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IKD'S KYE Vi::\V OF CJROUNDS AND ri'ILDIN , 



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COLUMRIAN ExrosiTiox, nricAGo, 1892-93. 



" My Country, Tis of Thee ! " 

OR, 

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA; 

Past, Present and Future. 



A Philosophic View of American History and of Our Present 
Status, to be Seen in 

THE COLUMBIAN EXHIBITION. 



WILLIS FLETCHER JOHNSON, A. M., 

Author of "Stanley's Adventures in Africa," " History of the Johnstown 
Flood," " A Life of General Sherman," Etc. 



GREAT ISSUES OF THE FUTURE, 

AS VIEWED BY 

OUR MOST PROMINENT EDITORS AND EMINENT MEN OF 
OUR COUNTRY, 

INCLUDING 

President Harrison, Ex-President Cleveland, Senator Sherman, 

Judge Thurman, Cardinal Gibbons, Bishop Foss, Bishop 

Potter, T. V. Powderly, General Schofield, 

Admiral Porter, and many others. 



JOHN HABBERTON, 

Author of "A Life of George Washington," Etc., and Editor of 
" The Select British Essayists." 



illustrated. ■ - / 

philadelphia : 

JOHN Y. HUBER COMPANY, 

1892. 



Copyright, 1892, by B. W. URIAN. 



6rFlCE OF THE PRESIDENT 

BOARD OF LADY MANAGERS. 

WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION. 



Gentlemen : 

Witli reference to your request for an intro- 
ductory note, allow me to assure you that it 
affords me great pleasure to speak to the masses 
through the medium of your excellent book. 

Thanking you for the courtesy, I am, 

Yours most truly, 



/cvM^^^/77t^, 







THE PURPOSES 

OF THE 

BOARD OF LADY MANAGERS 

OF THE 

WORLD'S COLUMBIAN COMMISSION. 



The Board of Lady Managers of the World's Colum- 
bian Commission, having been created and authorized by 
the concurrent action of Congress and the Columbian Com- 
mission, to take entire charge of the interests of women at 
the coming Exposition, desires to develop to the fullest ex- 
tent the grand possibiUties which have been placed within 
its reach. 

The Board wishes to mark the first participation of 
women in an important national enterprise, by preparing 
an object lesson to show the progress made by women in 
every country of the world, during the century in which 
educational and other privileges have been granted her, 
and to show the increased usefulness that has resulted from 
the enlargement of her opportunities. 

The Board of Lady Managers invites the women of 
all countries to participate in this great exhibit of woman's 
work, to the end that it may be made not only national, 
but universal, and that all may profit by a free comparison 
of methods, agencies, and results. 

It is of the first importance that such a representative 
collection be secured from every country as will give an ade- 
quate idea of the extent and value of what is being done 
by women in the arts, sciences, and industries. 



We will aim to show to the breadwinners, who are 
fighting unaided the battle of life, the new avenues of em- 
ployment that are constantly being opened to women, and 
in which of these their work will be of the most distinct 
value by reason of their natural adaptability, sensitive 
and artistic temperaments, and individual tastes ; what 
education will best enable them to enjoy the wider oppor- 
tunities awaiting them and make their work of the greatest 
worth, not only to themselves but to the w^orld. 

The Board has decided that at the coming Exposition 
it will not attempt to separate the exhibit of woman's 
work from that of men, for the reason that as women are 
working side by side with men in all the factories of the 
world, it would be practically impossible, in most cases, to 
divide the finished result of = their combined work ; nor 
would women be satisfied with prizes unless they were 
awarded without distinction as to sex, and as the result of 
fair competition with the best work shown. They are 
striving for excellence, and desire recognition only for de- 
monstrated merit. In order, however, that the enormous 
amount of work being done by women may be appreciated 
a tabulated statement will be procured and shown with 
ever>^ exhibit, stating the proportion of woman's work 
that enters into it. The application blanks now being sent 
out to manufacturers contain this inquiry. 

The Board of I^ady Managers has been granted by 
Act of Congress the great and unusual privilege of ap- 
pointing members of each jury to award prizes for articles 
into which woman's work enters. The number of women 
on each jurj' will be proportionate to the amount of work 
done by women in the corresponding department of clas- 
sification. The statement as to the amount of their 
work will therefore be of double significance, for in ad- 
dition to the impressive showing of how large a pro- 
portion of the heavy labor of the world is being per- 
formed by the weaker sex, it will also determine the 
amount of jury representation to which the Board is entitled. 



Beside the extensive exhibit in the general Exposition 
buildings, women will have another opportunity of dis- 
playing work of superior excellence in a very advantageous 
way in the Woman's Building, over which the Board of 
I^ady Managers will exercise complete control. In its 
central gallery it is intended to have grouped the most 
brilliant achievements of women from every countr}' and 
in every line of work. Exhibits will be admitted only by 
invitation, which will be considered the equivalent of a 
prize. No sentimental sympathy for women will cause 
the admission of second-rate objects, for the highest 
standard of excellence is to be there strictly maintained. 
Commissions of women organized in all countries, as 
auxiliaries to the Board of Lady Managers, will be asked 
to recommend objects of supreme excellence produced by 
women, and producers of such successful work will be 
invited to place specimens in the gallerj- of the Woman's 
Building. 

Not only has woman become an immense, although 
generally unrecognized factor in the industrial world, but 
hers being essentially the arts of peace and progress, her 
best work is shown in the numberless charitable, reform- 
ator}', educational, and other beneficent institutions 
which she has had the courage and the ideality to estab- 
lish for the alleviation of suffering, for the correction of 
many forms of social injustice and neglect, and for the 
reformation of long-established wrongs. These institu- 
tions exert a strong and steady influence for good, an 
influence which tends to decrease vice, to make useful 
citizens of the helpless or depraved, to elevate the standard 
of morality, and to increase the sum of human happiness ; 
thus most eflfectively supplementing the best efforts and 
furthering the highest aims of all government. 

All organizations of women must be impressed with 
the necessity of making an effective showing of the noble 
work which each is carrjnng on. We especialh' desire to 
have represented, in the rooms reserved for that purpose, 



the educational work originated or carried on by women, 
from the Kindergarten organizations up to the highest 
branches of education, including all schools of applied 
science and art, such as training-schools for nurses, manual 
training, industrial art and cooking schools, domestic 
economy, sanitation, etc. When not practically exhibited, 
the work of all such organizations should be shown by 
maps, charts, photographs, relief models, etc.; but it is 
earnestly hoped that one, at least, the most representative 
institution in each of these branches, will be shown from 
every country, in order that a comparison may be made 
of methods and results. 

Bertha M. H. Palmer. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE AGE OF DISCOVERY, 



Classic legends of Atlantis — Chinese and Japanese accounts of early 
voyages to America — Prince Madoc and the Welsh legends — The 
royages of the Vikings — Eric and Leif and their adventures — Col- 
umbus and his schemes — The most memorable voyage in history — 
Post-Columbian voyagers and explorers — Many men from many 
lands flocking to the newly-discovered continent — A new world 
opened to the civilization and to the greed of Europe 17 

CHAPTER n. 

" IN THE GOOD OLD COLONY TIMES." 

Parcelling out the country — Foundation of the earliest colonies — 
Jamestown and its settlers — Strange improvidence of the colonists 
— Troubles with the Indians — ^John Smith and Pocahontas — The 
Pilgrims and Puritans — Substantial growth of the New England 
Colonies — New York — Troubles with the Mother Country — Growth 
of the spirit of independence — The War of the Revolution and its 
results 60 

CHAPTER III. 

THE STORY OF THE NATION. 

Establishing a constitutional goverimient — Disputes with other powers 
— A second war with England — Territorial acquisitions — Settlement 
and admission of new States — The slavery question — War with 
Mexico — The rush for gola in California — The Kansas troubles — 
How the great war was precipitated — The campaigns from Bull 
Run to Appomattox — Political results of the war — Rapid growth of 
the country since — The present state of the nation 105 

6 



CONTENTS. 7 

CHAPTER IV. 

world's fairs. 

The oiigiri wiitJ iAjject of universal exhibitions — New York's Crystal 
Palace — Spin! and hopes of its projectors — Its display of the na- 
tion's greatness — The Centennial Exposition of 1S76 — Magnitude 
of the enterprise — Description of its hundred buildings — Calendar 
of events — An impressive exposition of national development . . 146 

CHAPTER V. 

THE COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION. 

PreparatioLS for a ceJebration of the quartercentenary of Columbus — 
Chrcago chosen as the site — Marvelous history of the Western Me- 
tropolis — How the Columbian Exhibition was organized — Sketches 
of its promoters — The principal buildings and grounds — Financial 
arrangements — An exhibition surj^assing all its predecessors and fit- 
tingly commemorating the birth of a new world 204 

CHAPTER VI. 

society's foundation-stone. 

Marriage Customs in the United States — Shiploads of women dis- 
posed of as wives to the earlier Virginia Planters — The Marriage 
Relation should be closely guarded — Divorced people, have they 
moral right to remarry ? — A rich man and a stupid wife — Drift- 
ing apart — Duty of the Church — Views of a happy wife — Novels, 
love and marriage — " Beauty and the Beast " — An insulting im- 
putation — Is it the " best match? " — Marriage blunders . . 247 

CHAPTER Vn. 

THE DEMON OF DIVORCE. 

Marriage not a failure — Rev. David Swing's caustic comment — Views 
of Rabbi Silverman — Ileartlessness of Divorce Court proceedings 
-Divorced persons debarred by the Queen of England — Suffer- 
ings of the children — " Vice is a monster of such hideous mien" 
— Shall we have a Constitutional Amendment restricting divorce ? 
— Views of Bishop Foss and Bishop Whittaker — Position of the 
Catholic Churcii and of the Hebrews — " Church union cannot be 
combated"— "Burn the bridges" .,-... 260 



8 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

THE farmer's troubles. 

Encumbered with mortgage^ — Energy of the farmer — Lack of capital 
— Labor — The farmer's children and city life — " The borrower is 
servant to the lender" — The census valuation of farm lands — 
Hiram Sibley, the millionaire farmer — Twelve Vermont farms — 
The Western farmer and the railroads — Co-operative stores — 
"Land-poor" — Government aid for the farmers .... 272 

CHAPTER IX. 

the rum power. 

Harm done by the liquor traffic — Views of Bishop Warren, of the 
Methodist Church — Miss Frances Willard's views — " Petroleum" 
Nasby — Rum in politics — Channing's aphorism — Rev. Theodore 
Cuyler's summary of statistics — Causes of drunkenness — Ways to 
reclaim the unfortunates — Control the demon by law — Public 
opinion — Bishop Foss' reply — Restrictive measures . . . 2S8 

CHAPTER X, 

NATIONAL defence. 

Our harbors useless — Caught napping by England — Troops and the 
Indians — General Sheridan's last report — General Sherman's pro- 
tests — Congressional inactivity — Admiral Porter hammerirg af 
Congress — A blast from the late Samuel J. Tilden — Desertions 
from the army — Statistics from General Schofield's report — Fron- 
tier life for the soldier — Major Sumner's plan .... 303 

CHAPTER XI. 

LABOR. 
Laboring men — Their mistakes and their grievances — Labor sure to 
be imposed upon — Driving a sharp bargain — Low wages resulting 
from competition — A laborer in chains recently brought for sale 
into the market-place of a New England town — But the people 
rise in their wrath — Does practical slavery exist in the United 
States ? — Coal miners and factory hands compared with the consis- 
tados of South America — Th^ store system of credits — Resulting 
evils to the laborers . . . , . . . . .3^^ 

CHAPTER XII. 

SELF-HELP FOR LABOR. 

The importanca of being a "full-handed workman "—5w^f«^/ 



CONTENTS. 9 

TmeclirYiiics know more than one branch of business — This quality 
developed in new countries — Votes of laborers controlled by cor- 
porations — A curious experience in the West .... 336 

CHAPTER XIII. 

IMMIGRATION. 

America is a home — Not an asylum — Liberty is not license — No 
paupers need apply — Nor any contract laborers — Skilled labor 
welcome, if it comes to stay — Immigrant farmers will do us good 
— Too much huriy in granting citizenship — Foreign faction fights 
must not be kept up here — Transplanted stock improves rapidly . 351 

CHAPTER XIV. 

ANNEXATION. 
We don't want the earth — We need more neighbors — Not more chil- 
dren — Non-assimilative races would weaken us — The Old World's 
experience at land-grabbing — Let Canada alone till she wants us 
— Likewise Mexico — We have enough discordant interests now — 
We don't want to pay other nations' debts ..... 368 

CHAPTER XV. 

THE INDIAN. 
He has stopped fighting — Let us stop robbing him — The Indian will 
work — He has plenty of brains — Capacity for education abun- 
dantly proved — Records of the experiment at Hnmpton — He 
knows a good thing when he sees it — The beneficent effects of the 
Dawes bill — Even the Apaches have worked as good as white 

men 3S5 

CHAPTER XVI. 

THE PRESS. 

The editor is the nation's schoolmaster — Also the most trusty advo- 
cate of the people's rights — He brings the people together in 
spirit and purpose — Always ahead of Congress and the govern- 
ment — Rapid improvement of the newspaper — Independence in 
journalism — Trial by newspaper 399 

CHAPTER XVII. 

THE SCHOOL-ROOM. 

Boys and girls who are to be men and women — The schools are be- 
hind the times — Too much fuss and too little gain — Discipline 
which costs too much — Heads stuffed, but hands and hearts 
neglected — Faults of teaching — About faculties benumbed by rou- 



iO CONTENTS. 

tine work — What has been done can be done —The country boy 
ahead ... 



410 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

RAILROADS. 

Rights and wrongs of the great transportation corporations — What 
they liave done for the country and what the country has done for 
them — Era of construction closed and an era of restriction and 
regulation begun — Why railroad officials become millionaires — 
Watering stock — A curious question which will be raised one of 
these days 431 

CHAPTER XIX. 

BANKS AND BANKING. 
New York no longer the sole dictator in the money market — Why 
Western business men are now independent of metropolitan 
money-lenders — The increase of "reserve cities"- — Banking 
methods to dodge the laws — How unscrupulous bank directors 
get rich — Why so many cashiers go to Canada and how to stop 
them — Noted living bankers 455 

CHAPTER XX. 

OUR CITIES. 

Cities are necessary evils — But greatly to be avoided — City life is 
dangerous to most persons — Unnatural influences are inevitable — 
Hard on the purse and hard on the heart — Poverty's last refuge — 
The home of the thief — The touch of nature lost — Temptations 
innumerable — Restraints few — No place for country boys and girls 
— City forms of government must change — The Darker Side — 
The sorrows of the city poor — Friendless and alone — Miserable 
homes — Health and morals menaced — All depends on one life — 
Chances and misfortunes — Sickness and death — The story of the 
Ganges paralleled — The majority are industrious — An army of 
heroes — Religion and rum their only comforts — Child work and 
child ruin — Benevolence wearied and despairing .... 4S1 

. CHAPTER XXI. 

RELIGION. 

Religion is in no danger — The letter suffers but the spirit grows — 
Essentials were never more prominent — The tree is judged by its 
fruit — Proselyting has gone out of date — Denominations have 
ceased to fight — A life as well as a faith 5^9 



CONTENTS. 11 

CHAPTER XXII. 

WOMAN AND HER WORK. 

One " woman's right " secured— She has a chance almost everywhere 
—The liberation of man— Woman's wits sharpen quickly— Advan- 
tages over male workers— Woman need not marry for a home— 
The tables turned— Some effects upon society— Never enslaved 
unless stupid-The " Song of the Shirt "—The coming generation 517 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

OUR LITERATURE. 

A nation of readers — Books to be found everywhere — The Sunday- 
School library — Chautauqua's great work — The American author 

is a busy man — Good books make their way, sooner or later 

Abler men should go into authorship— Our literature making its 
way abroad — American writers' characteristics— Our literature is 
clean, earnest and hopeful c,j 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

AMERICAN HUMOR. 

The salt that will save us — A nation of jokers— Our Puritan and 
cavalier ancestors were fond of fun— President Lincoln's jokes- 
Humor in the pulpit— Fun in the newspapers — Prentice — Mark 
Twain — Nasby — Nye and Riley— Miles O'Reilley — "Uncle 
Remus"— John Hay— "Bob" Burdetle— All healthy fun— No 
malignity in our jokes — The best-natured people alive . . . 547 

CHAPTER XXV. 

THE HIGHER EDUCATION. 

A land full of colleges — How these institutions began to exist- , 
Tributes to American regard for intelligence and education — 
Something better needed — No lack of money — Views of Presidents 
Dwight of Yale, Eliot of Harvard, McCosh of Princeton, White 
of Cornell, Bartlett of Dartmouth, and Oilman of Johns Hopkins- 
Bishop Potter on the place of the scholar in America . . . c66 

CHAPTER XXVT. 
OUR GREAT CONCERN. 
Our country first and foremost — No sectional differences — No foreign 
interests or entanglements — The people first, the party afterward — 
Loyalty to parly means disloyalty to the republic — Meddlers must 
be suppressed — All in the family — One for all and all for one — 
E Pluriliis Unum 597 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



FACING 
PAGE 



Bird's-eye View of Grounds and Buildings, Colum- 
bian Exposition, Chicago, 1892-93, . . Frontispiece 

Christopher Columbus, ^7 

Landing of Columbus, 32 

Washington, 49 

Residence of the President of the United States, 

1798, ^4 

Abraham Lincoln, 81 

World's Fair, New York, 1853, 96 

Main Building, International Centennial Exhibition, 

1876, "3 

Libby Prison, 128 

Independence Hall, Philadelphia, I45 

Chicago in 1856, 160 

Chicago Street Life— Washington Street and Wabash 

Avenue, I77 

U. S. Grant, 192 

The Capitol, 209 

Bear Pit (Lincoln Park) 224 

The Auditorium Hotel, 241 

Bird's-eye View of the Proposed Buildings of the 

University of Chicago 256 



14 UST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

FACING 
PAGE 

Tacoma Building, 273 

Residence of Hon. Potter Palmer, 288 

Mines Building, 305 

U. S. Man-of-War, 320 

Agricultural Building, 337 

Perspective View Looking South, Showing Knd of 

World's Columbian Exposition, 352 

Administration Building, 369 

Electrical Building, 384 

Gallery of Fine Arts, 401 

Transportation Building, 416 

Horticultural Hall, 433 

Fisheries and Agricultural, 448 

Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building, ' 465 

Machinery Hall, .• 480 

Woman's Building, 497 




CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 



"MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 



B 



CHAPTER I. 

THE AGE OF DISCOVERY. 

EGINNING with the year 1492, the date of 
the first voyage of Columbus, necessarily 
leaves a great part of American history untold. 
Every nation's story begins in the middle ; back 
of Leonidas are the Homeric heroes ; Romulus 
and Remus antedate the Tarquins. So, cen- 
turies before the clear glory of Columbus, we 
have tradition of various shadowy explorers 
whose strange barques visited our shores. Un- 
less we grant the earliest inhabitants of America 
an autochthonic origin, it seems most reasonable 
to suppose that they came from Asia. Such au- 
thorities as Humboldt, Bancroft, and Prescott 
declare it their opinion that the monuments, the 
systems of cosmogony, the methods of comput- 
ing time, etc., all point to an ancient communi- 
cation with eastern Asia. It is certain that from 
time immemorial constant intercourse has been 
kept up between the natives of either side of 
Bering's Strait, and it is very probable that the 
original immigrants came that way. There are 
other possible routes — the Aleutian Islands and 
2 17 



18 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

Polynesia are the two next favored by the 
authorities. 

There is a distinct trace of Japanese blood in 
many of the native tribes of the northwest coast, 
and we have too many modern instances of Japa- 
nese junks drifting upon the American coast, 
after floating for months at the mercy of the 
Pacific currents, to doubt the possibility of pre- 
historic visits of these people. What is known 
as the " black stream," or Japan current, runs 
northward past the eastern coast of the Japanese 
Islands, then curves to the east and south, pass- 
ing the west coast of America and moving toward 
the Sandwich Islands. This current, it is said, 
would carry a drifting vessel toward the Ameri- 
can coast at the rate of ten miles a day. 

The theory which supposes the people, or at 
least the civilization, of America to be of Eg3^p- 
tian origin is based upon analogies existing be- 
tween the architecture, hieroglyphics, and various 
customs of the two countries. But even where 
these analogies bear the test of close examina- 
tion, they can scarcely be said to prove anything. 
In western Asia the Phoenicians — those bold 
voyagers — and their children, the Carthagenians, 
are given the honor of settling America. The 
records of their travels show that they knew of 
a country lying far to the west. In the writings 
of Diodorus Siculus is an elaborate account of a 
wonderful island in the Atlantic Ocean, far be- 



the: agr of discovery. 19 

yond the Pillars of Hercules, and mauy days' 
journey from tlie coast of Africa. This happy 
land, fertile of soil, beautiful of scenery, and per- 
fect of climate, was accidentally discovered by 
Phoenician sailors, whose barque was driven 
thither by contrary winds. On their return 
they gave such glowing accounts of the new 
country that large colonies of Tyrians left their 
native land to settle there. This may have been 
America, but is more likely to have been the 
Canary Islands. 

Volumes have been written to prove that 
America was settled by the Ten Lost Tribes of 
Israel. 

In old Welsh annals there is an account of a 
colony established in the tw^elfth century by 
Madoc, one of the sons of Owen Gwynedd, prince 
of North Wales. After the death of this monarch, 
his sons waged w-ar. against each other for the 
sovereignty. Madoc became disgusted with con- 
tention, and determined to leave his native 
country and establish a kingdom of his own, as 
far away as possible from the quarreling of his 
brothers. He set sail, with what followers 
he could muster, and for many months bore west- 
ward. At length they came to a large and favor- 
able country, and, having sailed for some distance 
along the coast, they found a landing-place to 
their liking and disembarked. Some years later, 
Madoc returned to Wales and persuaded a large 



20 " MY COUNTRY, 'TTS OF THEE." 

number of liis countrymen to join the colon3^ 
Ten ships were fitted out with all manner of 
supplies, and many families set sail for the new 
land. Of their further adventures the records 
are silent. 

An Irish discovery of America is also claimed. 
St. Patrick is said to have sent missionaries 
thither. There is every reason to believe that 
Irish sailors could have reached, by accident or 
otherwise, the shores of our continent, but there 
is no reason at all to believe that they did. 

But these are all speculations, fairy stories, 
myths. Coming down to sober facts, there are 
but two historical documents of real value bear- 
ing upon the discovery of America before 
Columbus. One of these documents is Chinese, 
the other Scandinavian, 

The Chinese document is an extract from the 
of&cial records, and sets forth the adventures of 
a Buddhist priest named Hwui Shin, the same 
being related by him after his return from a 
country lying very far to the eastward. This 
country is claimed by some to have been Japan, 
but others claim that it was America. The 
weight of evidence certainly inclines toward the 
latter theory. The historian begins his account 
with the statement that, in order to reach the 
new continent, it is necessar}^ to set out from the 
coast of the province Leao-tong, to the north of 
Peking, reaching Japan after a journey of twelve 



THK AGE OF DISCOVERY. 21 

thousand // — that is, about four thousand miles. 
Sailing northward seven thousand //, one reaches 
the kingdom of Wen-shin. Five thousand // 
eastward is the country of Ta-han. Twenty 
thousand li beyond is the new world — which the 
record names as the country of Fu-sang. 

Perhaps we cannot do better than to present 
the original record, as translated by Professor 
S. Wells Williams : 

" In the first year of the reign, Yung-yuen, of 
the Bmperor Tung Hwa.n-han, of the Tsi dyn- 
asty (A. D. 499), a Shaman priest named Hwui 
Shin arrived at King-chau from the kingdom of 
Fu-sang. He related as follows : 

'' ' Fu-saiig lies east of the kingdom of Ta-han 
more than twenty thousand li ; it is also east of 
the Middle Kingdom (China). It produces 
many fii-saiig trees, from which it derives its 
name. The leaves of i)i& fu-sang resemble those 
of the iung tree. It sprouts forth like the bam- 
boo, and the people eat the shoots. Its fruits re- 
semble the pear, but it is red ; the bark is spun 
into cloth for dresses and woven into brocade. 
The houses are made of planks. There are no 
walled cities with gates. The (people) use char- 
acters and writing, making paper from the bark 
oiih^fu-saitg. There are no mailed soldiers, for 
they do not carry on war. The law of the land 
prescribes a southern and a northern prison. 
Criminals convicted of light crimes are put into 



22 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

the former, and those guilty of grievous offenses 
into the hitter. Criminals, when pardoned, are 
let out of the southern prison, but those in the 
northern prison are not pardoned. Prisoners in 
the latter marry. Their boys become bondmen 
when they are eight years old and the girls 
bondwomen when nine years old. Convicted 
prisoners are not allowed to leave their prison 
while alive. When a nobleman (or an ofScial) 
has been convicted of crime, the great assembly 
of the nation meets and places the criminal in a 
hollow (or pit) ; they set a feast, with wine, 
before him, and then take leave of him. If the 
sentence is a capital one, at the time they sepa- 
rate they surround (the body) with ashes. For 
crimes of the first grade the sentence involves 
only the person of the culprit ; for the second it 
reaches the children and grandchildren ; while 
the third extends to the seventh generation. 

" ' The king of this country is \.^r\n^^ yueh-ki ; 
the highest rank of nobles is called tiii-li ; the 
next, little tui-Ii ; and the lowest, 7io-clia-sha. 
When the king goes abroad, he is preceded and 
followed by drummers and trumpeters. The 
color of his robes varies with the years in the 
cycle containing the ten stems. It is azure in 
the first two years ; in the second two years it is 
red ; it is yellow in the third, white in the fourth, 
and black in the last two years. There are oxen 
with long horns, so long that they will hold 



THE AGE- OF DISCOVP^RY. 23 

things — the biggest as much as five pecks. Ve- 
hicles are drawn by oxen, horses, and deer, for 
the people of that land rear deer just as the 
Chinese rear cattle, and make cream of their milk. 
They have red pears, which will keep a year 
without spoiling ; water-rushes and peaches are 
common. Iron is not found in the ground, 
though copper is ; they do not prize gold or 
silver, and trade is conducted without rent, duty, 
or fixed prices. 

" ' In matters of marriage, it is the law that 
the (intending) son-in-law must erect a hut 
before the door of the girl's house, and must 
sprinkle and sweep the place morning and even- 
ing for a whole year. If she then does not like 
him, she bids him depart ; but if she is pleased 
with him they are married. The bridal cere- 
monies are, for the most part, like those of China. 
A fast of seven days is observed for parents at 
their death, five for grandparents, and three days 
for brothers, sisters, uncles, or aunts. Images 
to represent their spirits are set up, before which 
they worship and pour out libations morning 
and evening ; but they wear no mourning or 
fillets. The successor of the king does not 
attend personally to government afiairs for the 
first three 3^ears. In olden times they knew 
nothing of the Buddhist religion, but during the 
reign Ta-ming of the Emperor Hiao Wu-ti, of 
the Lung dynasty (A. D. 458), from Ki-pin five 
beggar priests went there. They traveled over 



24 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

the kingdom, everywhere making known the 
laws, canons, and images of that faith. Priests 
of regular ordination were set apart among the 
natives, and the customs of the country became 
reformed.' " 

There are several other narratives which re- 
late to Fu-sang, or to countries near it in situa- 
tion. This, of them all, seems to describe most 
truthfully a real country. Fu-sang may have 
been Japan, or it may have been Mexico. Hwui 
Shin's account differs very widely in some of its 
details, from our knowledge of either. 

All the literature of the subject of Chinese 
discoveries of America has been examined and 
reviewed in Mr. B. P. Vining's excellent book^ 
An Inglorious Columbus. Mr. Vining be- 
lieves Fu-sang to be Mexico, and t\\Q. fu-sang tree, 
in his view, is the maguey. 

When we come to the Scandinavian records, 
we find much that is not only plausible but in- 
disputable evidence of the validity of their claims. 
We know that the Scandinavian vikings, splen- 
did old rascals, in their many-oared galleys, often 
sailed far out into the waters of the Atlantic. In 
the year 860, one of these glorious cut-throats, 
Naddoddr (pronounce it if you can !), was blown 
upon the coast of Iceland. In 876 a similar 
experience befell another viking, and he reported 
having seen in the distance the coast of an un- 
known shore. 

In the year 981, Brie the Red, an outlaw of 



THE AGE OF DISCOVERY. 25 

Iceland, sailed in searcli of this coast, and, find- 
ing it, set a bad example to future real estate 
dealers by naming its bleak length Greenland. 

Subsequent to this discovery, according to the 
sagas of Iceland, frequent visits to the south 
were made, and one Bjarni, distancing all pre- 
vious explorers, found a fertile country to which 
he gave the name of Vinland. This was in the 
3^ear 985, and, although the stories of these ex- 
ploits are vague and untrustworthy enough in 
detail, there seems little doubt that Bjarni really 
visited the eastern coast of America at that date. 

No attempt was made at colonization ; indeed, 
it is not recorded that the galleys of Bjarni 
stopped at the new land at all. The wind which 
had carried them thither changed suddenly, and 
they were borne back to Iceland, where it is safe 
to presume that they all got uproariously drunk, 
and did a great deal of bragging on the strength 
of their adventure. 

The second voyage to the new country was 
made by Leif, son of Eric the Red, about the 
year 1000. He touched first a barren land 
covered with icy mountains which he named 
Helluland. Spreading sail again he turned the 
prow of his vessel southward until he reached a 
level country with trees and grassy slopes. This 
he called Markland. Two days sailing brought 
the vessel to an island at which the sailors dis- 
embarked, for the weather was warm and the 



26 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

sigHt of land alluring. They stayed here for a 
few hours and then steered for the main- 
land. A river flowed out from a lake, and 
in this lake they anchored, carried the lug- 
gage from the ship, and built themselves 
houses. It was the most beautiful, the most fer- 
tile land they had ever seen, and they resolved 
to spend the winter there. One of the boldest 
of them left his companions to the enjoyment of 
the salmon fishing in the river and lake, and de- 
voted himself to exploring the surrounding 
country. He found quantities of wine-berries 
(probably grapes), and with these berries and 
with some wood they loaded their ship and set 
sail for Greenland. 

Seven years later another expedition was fitted 
out with three ships, and under command of this 
same Leif. They sailed far to the southward 
and finally came to a promontory, to the right of 
which lay a long, sandy beach. On this beach, 
or rather on a tongue of land that ran out from 
it, they found the keel of a ship. They called 
this point, Kjlarnes (Keel Cape), and the beach, 
Furdustrandir (Long Strand). 

When the expedition set out. King Olaf 
Tryggvason gave Lief two famous runners, a 
Scotch man and woman, named Haki and Hekja. 
These people were set on shore shortly after 
they had passed Furdustrandir, and ordered to 
run to the south, explore the country and return 



THE AGE OF DISCOVERY. 27 

iu tliree days. At tlie end of the designated 
period they returned, the man bringing a bunch 
of wine-berries and the woman an ear of wheat. 
This was promising, and the expedition voted to 
continue the southward course. 

Coming to a bay in which was an island 
around which flowed rapid currents, they gave it 
the name of Straumey (Stream Island). The 
island was so covered with the nests of eider 
ducks that it was difficult to step without tread- 
ing on the eggs. Here they resolved to tarry, 
and, unloading the vessels, built habitations. 
Whether they stayed a long or a short time, and 
what adventures befell them, of good or evil, we 
know not. 

A fuller record is that of Karlsefne, who with 
another hero, Snorro, and our old friend Bjarni, 
sailed southward a long time until they came to 
the river which ran out through the lake into 
the sea. The river was too shallow to allow the 
ships to enter without high water. Karlsefne 
sailed with his men into its mouth, and named 
the place Hop. Here were found fields of wild 
wheat, and on the high ground wine-berries 
grew abundantly. The woods were full of game 
and the men found plenty of amusement for a 
fortnight. The only remarkable thing they saw 
was a number of skin boats filled with swart, 
ugly people who rowed near the shore and 
gazed in astonishment at the Northmen. They 



28 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

liad coarse hair, large, wild eyes and broad 
faces. They remained gazing at Karlsefne's 
men for a little and then rowed away to the 
southward. 

With these people the explorers soon estab- 
lished communication, trading red cloth, which 
the natives seemed to prefer to anything else, 
for skins and furs. They wished to purchase 
swords and spears, but these the Northmen re- 
fused to part with. As long as the red cloth 
held out their relations with the Skraelings, as 
they had named the natives, continued friendly. 
But one day, as the saga has it, while they were 
trafficking, a bull which Karlsefne had with him 
ran out of the wood and bellowed so fiercely that 
the Skraelings were frightened out of their wits, 
and fled in their skin boats, back to the south- 
land. 

Three weeks later great numbers of them re- 
turned, and, with loud cries, sprang on shore, pre- 
pared to do battle. Their weapons were slings, 
and very uncomfortable weapons they proved to 
be, but the Northmen stood their ground 
valiantly, until all of a sudden they saw the 
Skraelings raise on a pole something that looked 
like an air-filled bag of a blue color. They 
threw this at the enemy, and when it struck the 
ground it exploded violently. At this Karlsefne 
and his men retreated, never stopping until they 
gained a rocky stronghold, where they made 



THK AGK OI^ DISCOVERY. 29 

another stand, and at length succeeded in van- 
quishing the Skraelings. 

Shortly afterward the expedition returned to 
Greenland, Man}^ other Northmen visited Vin- 
land, according to the sagas, but no effort was 
made at colonization. It is a matter of conjec- 
ture as to the exact location of the country ex- 
plored by them. Some writers believe it to have 
been Labrador, and others place it as far south 
as Rhode Island. The Skraelings, as they are 
described in the sagas, certainly resemble Esqui- 
maux more nearly than Indians. But then we 
have no positive proof that the Northmen ever 
actually visited America at all. The presump- 
tion is that they did, but all matters of detail 
must necessaril}^ remain doubtful, even if we 
accept their narratives in the main as true. 

But whatever credit is to be given to the Asi- 
atic, Norse, or other early discoverers of America, 
or whatever knowledge of this hemisphere may 
have been possessed by Europeans in classic times, 
to Christopher Columbus must be ascribed the 
honor of opening the Western World to actual 
settlement by civilized man. This illustrious 
man was born in 1436, in all but the lowest rank 
-of life. His father was a woolcomber of Genoa. 
But the education of the lad was made as com- 
plete as the scant}^ means of his parents and the 
limited knowledge of that da}'- would permit. 
At an early age he learned to read and write. 



30 '^ MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

and obtained some knowledge of aritlimetic, 
drawing, and painting. Then he was sent to 
the college at Pavia, one of the best institutions 
of learning of those times. Here he studied 
grammar and the Latin language ; but his at- 
tention, fortunately for the world, was directed 
principally to studies bearing upou the maritime 
profession, which he intended to follow. He was 
instructed in geometry, astronomy, and navi- 
gation. Like many of the young men of Genoa, 
he had an irresistible inclination toward the sea. 
This was but natural, as that city was one of the 
chief ports of the world. Later in life, Columbus 
ascribed this inclination to a direct impulse from 
God, but this was only after his career had been 
crowned with such brilliant success. 

Geography was at this time the fashionable 
fad of the day. The world was just beginning 
to recover the lost geographical knowledge, lim- 
ited as it was, of the Greeks and Romans. Monks 
and churchmen were still splitting hairs over 
absurdly unimportant problems : How mau}^ 
angels could stand on the point of a needle ? 
whether a lie, under certain circumstances, was 
not truth ? whether black might not, in certain 
cases, be truly called white ? and other questions 
of equal vitality. But Arabian philosophers, at 
the same time, were measuring degrees of lati- 
tude and calculating the circumference of the 
earth. Their studies and achievements inevi- 



THE AGH OF DISCOVERY. 81 

tably found their way to tlie minds of many 
Christians in Europe, who, although detesting 
the religious creed of the Mohammedans, were 
able to see that their science was not to be de- 
spised. The works of Ptolemy and Strabo had 
also just come into popular circulation, and cre- 
ated as much of a sensation as any realistic novel 
of the present day. Prince Henry of Portugal 
had made voyages of important discovery along 
.the African coast, and thus had inspired all the 
nations of Western Burope with the hope of 
lighting upon some yet unknown region of 
fabulous wealth. 

All these circumstances made the time par- 
ticularly fitting for the most important event of 
the ages since the Christian era. The hour had 
come and the man also. At fourteen 3^ears of 
age Columbus left the school at Pavia, and began 
the life of a sailor. This simply meant to cruise 
from one port of the Mediterranean Sea to 
another, half as a merchantman, half as a man- 
of-war. Bvery vessel was hourly exposed to the 
attacks of pirates, especially those of the Bar- 
bary States, or of the war vessels of hostile 
countries. In the midst of such dangers and 
difficulties Columbus spent his early 3^ears. But 
the coarseness, ignorance, and violence with 
which he was surrounded did not degrade his 
noble mind. He had within him the seeds of 
greatness, a fine tone of thought, an ardent im- 



32 " MY COUNTRY, ^TIS OF THEE.*' 

agination, and a loftiness of aspiration. Every 
leisure hour was spent in study and profitable 
observation, thus improving the too meagre edu- 
cational advantages of his brief school life. 

The year 1470 found Columbus at Lisbon, 
drawn thither with hundreds of other navigators 
and scientific men by the fame of Prince Henry's 
discoveries. Strange tales were told of unex- 
plored regions in the fiery South, where the rocks 
were red hot and the water of the ocean forever, 
boiling. Even to these extravagant tales Colum- 
bus gave some heed, but his thoughts were prin- 
cipally fixed on the possibility of finding a new 
world far to the west. Our hero was now in the 
prime of life, a tall, muscular man of command- 
ing aspect. His light brown hair was already 
prematurely gray, and his expression of coun- 
tenance was grave and scholarl3\ He was simple 
and abstemious in his diet, affable and engaging 
in his manners and a devout Roman Catholic. 
But under this exterior was concealed a nature 
of the most ardent enthusiasm, not less energetic 
than that of Peter the Hermit or Ignatius Loyola. 
His religious temperament led him often to the 
services of the Church, and it was there that he 
first met a lady of high rank who soon afterward 
became his wife. She was the daughter of Don 
Bartolomeo Monis de Palestrello, an Italian 
cavalier, one of Prince Henry's most distin- 
guished oificers. The iise of his father-in-law's 



THE AGE OE DISCOVERY. 33 

fine collection of maps and charts was of great 
service to Columbus, who now gave liis attention 
to geographical studies more thoroughly than 
ever. He talked or corresponded with all the 
learned men of the day. He began to trace 
charts of his own, correcting the popular errors 
and traditions by the aid of his own greater 
knowledge and experience. Rumor, inspired 
by the stories of early adventures, had studded 
the far western ocean with wondrous islands, on 
one of which seven Christian bishops, fleeing 
from Pagan persecution, had founded seven 
splendid cities. There were tales of a lofty 
mountainous country to be seen on clear days 
far to the westward from the Canary Islands. 
Plato had told of the ancient continent of Atlan- 
tis, which had been sunk beneath the waves of 
the ocean. Marco Polo, the Venetian adven- 
turer, had told of the great wealth of the East 
Indies, which he said could be reached by sailing 
westward from Burope. 

However much he discounted the more ex- 
travagant of these tales, Columbus was deeply 
impressed by them all. He became well con- 
vinced that far to the west there lay an unex- 
plored region, probabl}^ a part of the East Indies, 
and he believed, with an intense religious zeal, 
that God had specially commissioned him to 
discover and explore it. Thereupon he conse- 
crated the whole of his remaining life to the 



34 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OP THEE." 

execution of this task. No hazard, nor obstacle, 
nor disappointment for a moment daunted him. 
He first applied to the Portuguese Court, stating 
the grounds of his belief in the existence of an 
undiscovered country in the western ocean, and 
asking for the means of ascertaining the truth 
of it. His proposition was received with indif- 
ference, and finally rejected under the influences 
of jealousy and intrigue. Then he returned to 
his native Genoa, and there sought the same aid 
and encouragement ; but Genoa was already de- 
clining under the stress of domestic discord and 
foreign war, and was unable to do anything for 
him. 

The fortunes of Columbus were now at a low 
ebb. He had exhausted his private means, and 
was in actual destitution. Downcast and disap- 
pointed, often begging his food from door to 
door, he made his way on foot from Genoa to 
the Court of Spain. Leading his little son by 
the hand, he one day approached the Spanish 
capital, and asked for bread and water at a con- 
vent door. The prior saw him, talked with him, 
became interested in him and his schemes, and 
offered to introduce him at Court. Thus Columbus 
obtained an interview with Cardinal Mendoza, 
the chief minister and confidential adviser of 
the King and Queen, Ferdinand and Isabella. 
The Cardinal was a man of extensive informa- 
tion and liberal mind, who perceived at once the 



THE AGE OF DISCOVERY. 35 

value of Columbus's theories and commended 
them to the sovereigns. The King, also, was 
apparently a good judge of men, and appreciated 
the character and ability of Columbus. But he 
was not willing to embark hastily in so great an 
enterprise as that proposed. He first called 
together a council of all the most learned 
astronomers and geographers in his kingdom, 
and to them referred Columbus, with his maps 
and charts and theories. 

This council met at Salamanca. It was entirely 
composed of friars, priests, and monks, who 
monopolized all the learning, both secular and 
religious, of that age. Some were men of large 
and philosophic minds ; others, narrow bigots ; 
but all were imbued with the notion that geo- 
graphical discovery had reached its limits long 
before. In the presence of this learned bod}^, 
Columbus, a simple seaman, strong in nothing 
save the energy of his convictions and the fire 
of his enthusiasm, had to appear to defend a 
scheme which to them must have appeared the 
dream of a madman. The difficulties of his 
position may be guessed from the nature of some 
of the objections made to his undertaking. His 
mathematical propositions and demonstrations 
were met with quotations from the Book of 
Genesis, the Psalms, the Prophets, the Epistles, 
the Gospels, and half a dozen of the Fathers of 
the Church. When he argued that the earth 



36 "my country, 'tis of thee.." 

was spherical, liis opponents quoted one of the 
Psalms, where the heavens are said to be ex- 
tended like a hide. Some members of the 
council, for the sake of argument, would admit 
the rotundity of the earth, but denied the possi- 
bility of circumnavigating it, first, because of 
the intolerable heat of the torrid zone, and 
second, because it would take at least three 
years to accomplish the voyage, in which time 
the explorers would die of hunger, it being im- 
possible to carry provisions sufficient for so long 
a time. Still others said that if a ship did reach 
India, she could never return, for the roundness 
of the globe would place a hill in her way, up 
which the strongest wind could not blow her. 

Such were the absurd notions held by the fore- 
most scholars of those days. It is needless here 
to recount such arguments further, or the argu- 
ments, now familiar to every school-boy, used by 
Columbus in support of his theory. It is enough 
to say that lie was treated with incredulity, sus- 
picion, and contempt, and narrowly escaped be- 
ing condemned for heresy. After a long con- 
sultation the assembly broke up without arriving 
at any decision. Then the war with the Moors 
of Granada absorbed the attention of the Court 
for several years and exhausted its financial re- 
sources. But after years of weary waiting the 
wish of Columbus was granted. Queen Isabella 
pledged some of her jewels and in SNther ways 



THE AGE OF DISCOVERY. 87 

raised a sufficient sum to equip his expedition. 
In the month of April, 1492, an agreement was 
drawn up making him Viceroy and Governor- 
General of all the lands he might discover and 
placing a number of ships and men at his dis- 
posal. On the morning of August 3d, 1492, he 
and his 120 comrades embarked in three small 
ships, the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria, 
and set sail from the little port of Palos, in An- 
dalusia, on the most important voyage in history. 
In a few days the expedition reached the 
Canary Islands, the then western boundary of 
the known world. Beyond this all was specula- 
tion. And of all the members of the expedition 
Columbus alone had unquestioning faith in the 
object of the enterprise. •* Many of the sailors be- 
lieved, when they had lost sight of the European 
shore, that they were doomed to inevitable de- 
struction. Thus doubting and murmuring they 
sailed onward week after w^eek. At one t;me 
their discontent and fears culminated in actual 
mutiny, and they proposed to put Columbus in 
irons or throw him overboard and return, if pos- 
sible, to Europe. But he alternately calmed 
their discontent by promises of rich rewards and 
awakened their fears by threats of immediate 
punishment. Thus for two months he kept 
them in hand. Then as they again grew des- 
perate and bade fair to def}^ his authority alto- 
gether, indications of land not far ahead began 



38 "my country, 'tis of thee." 

to appear. Birds hitherto unknown were seen 
flying above the waves and wheeling about the 
ships, and plants and bits of wood were seen in 
the water. Then the branch of a tree bearing 
red berries, and a curiously carved instrument, 
were picked up. These things inspired even the 
common sailors with hope that they were indeed 
approaching a shore. 

At last, on October 8th, 1492, after sixty-five 
days of navigation on unknown seas, they dis- 
covered land. It was not the American continent, 
but one of the Bahama Islands, to which Colum- 
bus reverently gave the name of St. Salvador. 
It was inhabited by Indians who received the 
strangers kindly. Columbus formally took pos- 
session of the country in the name of the Chris- 
tian religion and the King and Queen of Spain. 
And thus the dream of his youth was fulfilled 
and the ambition of his manhood was accom- 
plished. The Western World was discovered. 
Subsequently he visited Cuba, Jamaica, Ha3'ti, 
Porto Rico, and other islands, but did not reach 
the main land until his third voyage, when he 
visited Venezuela. He named the islands the 
West Indies, supposing them to be a part of the 
great East Indian Archipelago. 

In the month of April, 1493, ^^^ returned to 
the Spanish Court. The City of Barcelona was 
ablaze with flags and the air was vocal with the 
roar of artillery, while all the bells of the 



THE AGE OF DISCOVERY. 39 

churches rang peals of triumph in his honor. 
Years before Columbus had come thither on foot 
and in rags, begging his bread. Now he rode 
the streets in more than royal pomp, crowned 
with the admiration and acclaim of all the popu- 
lace. Seven natives of the Western World 
marched in his train, and there was an almost 
endless display of gold and gems, of carven idols 
and sculptured masks, of birds and beasts and 
reptiles, of trees and plants and fruits. Above 
all waved two banners, one that of Spain which 
he had unfurled above the new continent, and 
the other the admiral's flag bearing in golden 
letters the inscription, 

Por Castilla y por Leon 
Nuevo Mundo hallo Colon, 

or, For Castile and Leon Columbus has discov- 
ered a new world. 

Thus he came to the Court where the Kine 
and Queen awaited him, and was greeted by 
them as their equal. There, seated among the 
nobles of Spain, he gave a brief account of the 
most striking events of his voyage. The sover- 
eigns listened to him with profound emotion and 
then fell on their knees to give thanks to God 
for so great an achievement. For the time being 
no honor was too great to bestow upon Colum- 
bus. He was commissioned to make other 
voyages to the New World and to take posses- 



40 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

sioii of all lands there in the name of Spain. Yet 
it was only a few years after that that the memory 
of his splendid services was ontweighed by the 
malice of his foes. He was actually arrested, 
imprisoned and loaded with irons, and at the end 
died in disgrace and neglect, at Valladolid, ]\Iay 
2otli, 1506. 

The discovery made by Columbus was fol- 
lowed up by the Spaniards with the greatest en- 
thusiasm. Within twent}^ years the four largest 
of the West Indian Islands were the seats of 
flourishing colonies, while as yet other nations 
were contenting themselves with occasional 
voyages of discovery along the coasts of the 
continent. The great fertilit}^ of the soil, the 
mildness of the climate, but above all the find- 
ing of gold and precious stones, kept the Span- 
iards alive to the importance of their new posses- 
sions and encouraged immigration. Columbus 
himself made four voyages to the New World, 
discovering, in his third voyage, the South 
American continent near the mouth of the Ori- 
noco River, and reaching in his fourth, Hondu- 
ras and the coast to the south of this region. 
He never knew what a great discovery he had 
made and to his death rested under the delusion 
that he had found the eastern shore of Asia. 

In 1499 Alonzo de Ojeda, who had previously 
accompanied Columbus to the new country, 
made a voyage on his own account and explored 



THE AGE OF DISCOVERY. 41 

four hundred leagues of the coast of South 
America. With him sailed Amerigo Vespucci, 
who afterward made three independent voyages 
to America and wrote the first account of it ; 
this was published in 1507, and popular preju- 
dice has supposed that his name came thus to be 
given to the New World. 

At the recent Congress of Americanists in 
Paris, this point was discussed with much warmth. 
M. Jules Marcon asserted that Vespucci's name 
was Alberico instead of Amerigo, and that he 
changed it after the new continent was named. 
The true derivation of the name America is 
Amerique, that being the Indian name of a 
range of mountains in Central America. Still, 
some historians declare that very range of 
mountains to have been called Amerisque, and 
it is true that in the Florentine language Alberi- 
co and Amerigo are identical. Then there is 
extant a map of the world prepared by one Val- 
lescu of Majorca in 1490, on the back of which 
is a note to the effect that the map was purchased 
for one hundred and twenty ducats in gold by 
Amerigo Vespucci, the merchant. This proves 
that even if his name was not Amerigo, he some- 
times wrote it so. 

Other voyagers were Pedro Alonzo Nigno and 
Vincent Pinzon, the latter being the first Span- 
iard to cross the equinoctial line. He discovered 
the mouth of the Amazon River and from there 



42 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

sailed north to tlie Carribean Sea and the Gulf 
of Mexico. In the same year (1499), Diego 
Lope explored the coast of South America far to 
the southwest. 

The discovery and conquest of Mexico and 
Peru followed. The New World became the 
Mecca of every reckless and adventurous spirit 
in Europe. Ojeda sailed under a grant from the 
King of Spain to found a colony at San Sebas- 
tian, and with him went Francisco Pizarro, who 
thus made the first step in his adventurous 
career. The colony at San Sebastian was aban- 
doned, and on the return voyage one vessel 
foundered. The other, commanded by Pizarro, 
reached Carthagena, where it was met by a fleet 
conve^dng men and provisions to the colony. 
On one of these ships was the adventurer Bal- 
boa, who had smuggled himself on board to 
escape his creditors. Learning that the colony 
toward which they were sailing had been deserted, 
Balboa proposed going to Darien, which coast he 
had already visited. The proposal met with 
favor and a new town was founded under the 
name of Santa Maria de la Antigua del Darien. 
Trouble began immediately, as usual. The man 
who had brought the fleet thither, Bncisco, a 
lawyer of San Domingo, was imprisoned and 
Balboa was made alcade of the colon}-. 

The natives of Darien viewed their visitors 
with anything but favor, and endeavored by 



THE AGE OF DISCOVERY. 43 

Strategy to induce them to move on. They re- 
presented the neighboring district of Coyba to 
be much richer in gold and provisions than their 
own, and Pizarro, with only six men, went on 
an exploring expedition. The natives were 
found to be hostile, and on one occasion the 
Spaniards were surrounded by four hundred 
warriors, with whom they had a very bloody 
battle. One hundred and fifty natives were 
killed, many more wounded, while the Spaniards 
all escaped with their lives, one man only being 
too badly hurt to fly. Retreating to Santa 
Maria, they reported their misfortune, and it is 
to the credit of Balboa that he obliged them to 
return and bring back their wounded companion. 
Coyba was conquered, and an alliance formed 
with its ruler. Adjacent to it was a range of 
mountains, at the foot of which was a very rich 
and highly civilized country called Comagre. 
The chief invited the Spaniards to his domain, 
treated them with hospitality, and astonished 
them with the splendor of his possessions. His 
palace was a wonderful structure of wood, di- 
vided into many apartments. In one of these 
chambers, the dried and embalmed bodies of the 
chieftain's ancestors, clothed in cotton robes, 
richly embroidered with gold and precious stones, 
were suspended from the walls. A large amount 
of gold and seventy slaves were presented to the 
Spaniards. One-fifth of the gold was set apart 



44 " MY COUNTRY, 'TLS OF THEE." 

for the King, and over the remainder the Chris- 
tians held such a dispute that the savages were 
aghast. Finally the young chieftain scornfully 
remarked that if they were so greedy for gold, 
he could direct them to a country where it was 
more common than iron was in their land. 
" When you have passed this range of moun- 
tains," he continued, "you will behold another 
ocean, on which are vessels only inferior to those 
which brought you hither, equipped with sails 
and oars, but navigated by people naked like 
ourselves." Undoubtedly the chief alluded to 
Peru. This certain proof of the existence of 
another ocean filled Balboa with delight. He 
imagined that the country described formed a 
part of the vast region of the East Indies. 
Preparations for the enterprise were immediately 
begun, but in the midst of it all Balboa was 
summoned to court to answer the charges 
brought against him by Encisco. Instead of 
obeying the command, however, he determined 
to effect the passage to the South Sea before his 
successor could arrive from Spain. The Isthmus 
of Darien is only sixty miles in breadth, but a 
chain of mountains, a continuation of the Andes, 
runs through its whole extent. Its valleys are 
marshy and unhealthy, being inundated b}'- rains 
which prevail nearly two-thirds of the year. 
These marshes are even more impenetrable than 
the forests which cover the mountains, and to 



THE AGE OF DIvSCOVERY. 45 

this day the crossing is not mncli easier than it 
M^as til en. 

No man but Balboa could have accomplished 
it. He was not any more courageous than 
his followers, but he possessed great powers of 
magnetism as well as prudence, sagacity, and 
amiability ; in a word, he had genius, the genius 
of leadership. His soldiers were his children. 
He wished to bear the heaviest burdens himself; 
his post in battle was the most dangerous of all ; 
his endurance surpassed that of the strongest 
men. His army consisted of one hundred and 
ninet}^ Spaniards, one thousand Indians, useful 
to carry baggage, and some fierce blood-hounds. 

Balboa set forth on the ist of September, 1513. 
The journey was estimated to be of six days' 
duration, but it was only after twenty-five days 
of desperate fighting, and of struggles with dis- 
ease and fatigue, that they reached the summit 
of the mountain from Mdiich Balboa had been in- 
formed the great ocean could be seen. 

Commanding his armj^ to halt, Balboa advanced 
alone to the apex and there beheld the South 
Sea stretching before him in boundless extent. 
Amid great exultation he took formal possession 
of land and sea, cutting the king's name on trees 
and erectino- crosses and mounds of stones as 
records thereof. 

Leaving the greater part of his men where 
they were, Balboa proceeded with eighty Span- 



46 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OP THEE." 

iards, aud under tlie guidance of a friendly chief, 
toward the coast. Arriving at the borders of 
one of the vast bays, he rushed into the ocean 
with drawn sword and called upon the witnesses 
to observe that he possessed it in the name of 
Spain. 

He now wished to make conquest of the coun- 
tries to the south, which the natives declared to 
be a great and wealthy empire, but having too 
few men to attempt the enterprise, he returned to 
Darien, carrying with him a treasure valued at 
nearly half a million of dollars — the largest 
treasure yet collected in America. He sent mes- 
sengers to Spain, but before these arrived Don 
Pedrarias Davila had been sent out to supersede 
him in command. The King, however, in con- 
sideration of his services, sent letters appointing 
Balboa Adelantado or Admiral. The enormous 
project of conveying ship-building material 
across the Isthmus was accomplished, and two 
brigantines were constructed. Adverse weather 
and other misfortunes prevented the Spaniards 
from reaching Peru, and Pedrarias recalled Bal- 
boa to Darien. Balboa obeyed, never dreaming 
of the treachery awaiting him. He was seized 
and imprisoned, and finally condemned to death 
by the jealous Pedrarias, and the sentence was 
carried out in spite of the protests of the 
colonists. 

The conquest of Peru was afterward accom- 



THE AGE OF DISCOVERY. 47 

plisHed by Pizarro, wlio, while lie was as able a 
man as Balboa, was much more cruel and un- 
scrupulous. Three years later Magellan entered 
the South Sea, after sailing around the southern 
extremity of the continent. It was Magellan 
who gave this ocean the name Pacific, in recog- 
nition of the fine weather he encountered in 
crossing it. His fleet reached the islands of the 
Indian Archipelago, and returned to Europe by 
way of the Cape of Good Hope, thus completing 
the first circumnavigation of the globe. 

In the same year which witnessed the unjust 
execution of Balboa (15 17), the northern coast 
of Yucatan was explored, and also the southern 
coast of Mexico. Instead of encountering naked 
savages, the explorers were surprised to find 
well-clad and highly civilized people, so bold and 
warlike as to drive off the intruders with great 
slaughter. Velasquez, governor of Cuba, deter- 
mined to conquer' the wealthy country thus dis- 
covered, and prepared a fleet of ten vessels, which 
he sent out under command of Hernando Cortes, 
a man who had already achieved some military 
distinction. He landed in Mexico on March 
4th, 1 5 19, where his ships and artillery, and 
especially his horses, created the wildest fear 
and astonishment among the natives, who re- 
garded the strangers as divine beings. They 
were soon to be undeceived, however, for a reign 
of war and oppression was begun, which resulted 



48 "my country, 'tis of thee.'' 

iu the death of the Emperor Montezuma, the 
levelling of their ancient temples, and the ulti- 
mate extinction of the Aztec nation. 

Meanwhile, the mainland of the American 
continent had been visited and partly explored. 

The first voyage to the northern coast was 
made by John Cabot in 1497, ^^n^er the auspices 
of Henry VIII of England. His object was less 
the discovery of a new continent than the find- 
ing of a northwest passage to the coast of Asia. 
Cabot sighted land on the 26th of June, probably 
the Island of Newfoundland. On the 3d of July 
he reached the coast of Labrador. He was then 
the first of modern navigators to discover the 
North American continent, Columbus being a 
whole year behind him. Cabot explored the 
coast for nine hundred miles, in a southerly 
direction, and returned to England. The next 
year his son, Sebastian, visited the same region, 
still looking for that northwest passage. 

The Portuguese also made early voyages with 
the same illusory object in view. In 1500, 
Caspar Cortereal reached the American conti- 
nent. In his second voyage his ship was lost, 
and his brother, who went in search of him, also 
perished. 

In 1524, Francis I of France resolved to have 
a share in these new discoveries. A company of 
Breton sailors had already partly explored the 
coast. As early as 1506 the Gulf of St. Lawrence 




WASHINGTON. 



Direct Reproduction of the Original Painting, by Gilbert Stuart, in tne Museum of 
the Fine Arts, Boston. The Property of the Boston Athenseum. 



^HE AGE OF DISCOVERY. 49 

was discovered. A squadron of four ships, under 
Giovanni Verrazano, an Italian navigator in the 
service of Francis, explored the coast from 
the Carolinas northward, probabl}^ visiting New 
York and Narragansett.Bays. He also searched 
for the northwest passage, and on his return 
succeeded in convincing the King that no such 
passage existed. 

In 1534 a second expedition was fitted out 
under command of Jacques Cartier, a fearless 
mariner, vrho had previously made fishing vo}''- 
ages to the Banks of Newfoundland. This ex- 
pedition consisted of two vessels, and left St. 
Malo on the 20th of April. After a short stay 
at Newfoundland, Cartier sailed northward, 
passed through the Straits of Belleisle and 
entered the St. Lawrence. 

Here, on the 24th of July they landed and 
erected a cross, surmounted by the lilies of 
France. The natives proved friendly, and two 
men were prevailed upon to accompau}^ the re- 
turning voj'agers. The following 3^ear a second 
expedition was sent out under Cartier, with in- 
structions to explore carefully the. St. Lawrence, 
to establish a settlement, and to traffic with the 
Indians for gold. Of this latter commodity they 
found none, but the river was explored as far as 
the spot where now stands Montreal. The 
natives seem to have had a very correct knowl- 
edge of their country, for they told Cartier that 



60 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

it would take three months to sail in their canoes 
up the course of the river and that it ran through 
several great lakes, the largest like a vast sea. Be- 
yond the farthest lake was another river which 
ran in a southerly direction. This was the 
Mississippi. The Canadian winter had now set 
in and the explorers suffered terribly from the 
cold and disease. As soon as spring appeared 
they returned home. Like other adventurers of 
the age, they repaid the hospitality of the natives 
with the blackest ingratitude and treachery. 
They kidnapped the chief Donacona — whose 
village occupied the site of Quebec, and who had 
fed and lodged the explorers — and forced him, 
with eight warriors, to accompany them to France, 
where the unhappy savages died soon after their 
arrival. 

The third expedition under Cartier in a fleet 
fitted out by De Roberval, a rich nobleman of 
France, was not so successful. The Indians 
had not forgiven the outrage perpetrated upon 
their chief, and the white men were received at 
Stradacona (Quebec) with every sign of hatred 
and enmity. Cartier, finding his position here 
so unpleasant, not to say dangerous, moved up 
the river to Cape Rouge, where he moored three 
of his vessels and sent the other two back to 
France for supplies. An attempt was made to 
found a colony, and the summer was spent in an 
unsuccessful search for gold. Both the colony 



THE AGE OF DISCOVERY. 51 

and the search for gold were abandoned after 
another severe winter and Cartier and his men 
returned to France. 

It was this same greed for gold which led the 
Spaniards to attempt the exploration of the 
southern part of the American continent. As 
early as 15 12 Juan Ponce de Leon discovered a 
land which he called Florida, partly because he 
first saw it on Easter Sunday {Pascua floridd)^ 
and partly because it seemed to his delighted 
gaze a veritable " land of flowers." Ponce de 
Leon had another object beside gold hunting; 
he was an old man and he loathed his years. 
He had come hither lured by a wonderful tale 
of a fountain which gave eternal youth to whoso- 
ever bathed in its waters. To find this grand 
restorer of vigor and bloom, Ponce de Leon and 
his followers wandered through terrible forests 
and marshes, enduring every hardship and de- 
privation, running hourly risks of death. That 
such a dream could ever have been cherished by 
enlightened and educated people need not appear 
so strange if we consider what a succession of 
new and astonishing scenes had passed before 
the eyes of the old world in the short space of 
ten years. No wonder their imaginations were 
inflamed and their credulity limitless. In this 
new land, of which the preceding ages had been 
utterly ignorant, everything was different from 
that with which the old world was familiar. Any- 



52 '' MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE.'' 

thing seemed possible, after the impossible had 
happened. De Leon made two visits after his 
fountain ; in the second one he was killed b}^ the 
Indians. 

In 1528 Pamphilo de Narvaez made an effort 
to take possession of Florida in the name of 
Charles V of Germany. He met with such hos- 
tility from the natives, however, that after months 
of wandering he reached the Gulf with a mere 
handful of men out of the six hundred with 
whom he had landed. Building five miserable 
boats, these crazy adventurers attempted to follow 
the line of the coast to the Mexican settlements. 
Four boats were lost in a storm ; the survivors 
landed and sought to cross the continent to the 
Spanish colonies at Sonora, It seems incredi- 
ble, but in this enterprise four of the men actu- 
ally succeeded. Among them was Cabeca de 
Vaca, treasurer of the expedition. Their appear- 
ance in Kurope nine 3'ears after their departure 
caused the greatest sensation, and the excitement 
created by their narrative was intense. The 
passion for adventure became stronger than ever 
among the Spaniards, and when the already 
celebrated Hernando de Soto, who had been with 
Pizarro in Peru, asked for and was granted per- 
mission to take possession of P'lorida in the 
name of Ferdinand of Spain, he had a multitude 
of volunteers to his standard. 

De Soto was first appointed governor of Cuba 



THK AGE OF DISCOVERY. 53 

that he might turn to account the resources of 
that wealthy island. His fleet of nine vessels 
and force of six hundred men, sailed from 
Havana on the i8th of May, 1539, and ten days 
later anchored in Tampa Bay. The first remark- 
able adventure that befel them was an encounter 
with one of the companions of Cabeca de Vaca, 
who had been held all this time captive among 
the Indians. He had acquired a thorough 
knowledge of their language, and his services as 
mediator and interpretor soon became invaluable. 
Led by Ortiz — the captive — the explorers 
wandered through the unknown land until 
spring. Then a native offered to guide them to 
a distant country, governed by a woman, and 
rich in " yellow metal," which the Spaniards un- 
derstood to be gold, but which turned out to be 
only copper. The dominion of the Indian queen 
was reached at last, after much fighting and 
bloodshed. The old chronicles give a pictur- 
esque and rather pathetic account of the meeting 
between the poor cacica and the invaders. She 
came forth to welcome them, alighting from her 
litter and making gestures of pleasure and 
amity, taking from her neck a heavy string of 
pearls and presenting it to De Soto. He ac- 
cepted the gift, and for a time kept up a pretense 
of friendship; but, having obtained all the in- 
formation the queen had to give, he made her 
prisoner and robbed her and her people of all 



54 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

their valuables, even pillaging the graves of dead 
nobles for pearls. It is gratifying to know that 
the queen effected her escape from the guards, 
and that she regained a box of pearls on which 
De Soto set especial store. 

The Spaniards now altered their course, and, 
taking a northwesterly direction, they found 
themselves, after a few months, at the foot of 
the Appalachian range of mountains, which, 
rather than cross, they turned their backs upon, 
and wandered into the lowlands of what is now 
Alabama, ignorant of the fact that these very 
mountains were rich in the gold they so ardently 
coveted. 

The autumn of 1540 brought what remained 
of the party to a large village called Mavilla, the 
site of the modern city of Mobile, where a terri- 
ble battle took place. Mavilla was burned to 
ashes, and when the fight ended the victorious 
Spaniards found themselves in a desperate situ- 
ation — at a distance from their ships, their pro- 
visions gone, and enemies on every side. The 
common soldiers, by this time, had had quite 
enough of exploration, and wished to return to 
the coast. But De Soto, who had received secret 
information that his fleet was even now anchored 
in the Bay of Pensacola, six days' journey from 
Mavilla, determined to make one more effort to 
redeem his honor by a notable discovery of some 
sort. He forced his men to journey northward, 



THE AGE OF DISCOVERY. 55 

and in December they reached a Chickasaw 
village, in what is now the State of Mississippi. 
By spring they had fought their way completely 
across the State, and in May they reached the 
banks of the mighty river from which the State 
takes its name. Not knowing that he had made 
his great discovery, De Soto went to work to 
build boats and barges with which to cross the 
river. Constantly harassed by the natives, the 
explorers continued their northward wanderings 
until they reached the region of the present State 
of Missouri. Proceeding westward, they en- 
camped for the winter at the present location of 
Little Rock, Arkansas. But the spot turned 
out to be an unhealthy one ; the white men 
began to succumb to disease ; Juan Ortiz, the 
chief helper, died ; scouts sent out to explore the 
neighborhood brought back darkest reports of 
impenetrable wildernesses, and of bands of 
hostiles creeping up from every side to attack 
them. Saddest of all, De Soto, broken with 
disease and long endurance, lay down to rise no 
more. Calling his little army around him, he 
asked their pardon for the sufferings he had 
brought upon them, and named Luis de Alvaredo 
as his successor. The following day the unhappy 
De Soto breathed his last, and was buried secretly 
outside the camp ; but, fearing an immediate 
attack from the natives should the death of the 
hero be made known, and the newl3^-made grave 



5(y " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

exciting suspicion among the Indians in the 
neighborhood, Alvaredo had the corpse disin- 
terred in the night, and, wrapped in clothes 
made heavy with sand, dropped into the Mis- 
sissippi. 

Alvaredo then led his people westward, hoping 
to reach the Pacific coast. But after long months 
of wandering, and dreading to be overtaken by 
winter on the prairies, they retraced their steps 
to the Mississippi, where they pitched camp and 
spent six months building boats in which to go 
down the river. A terrible voyage of seventeen 
days, between banks lined with Indians, who 
plied them pitilessly with poisoned arrows, 
brought them to the Gulf, and a further weary 
cruise along the coast of Louisiana and Texas 
landed them at the Spanish settlement of 
Panuco, in Mexico. This was in October, 1543 ; 
they had been wandering for nearly four years. 

The English were rather tardy in following 
the lead of the Spanish, French, and Portuguese 
explorers, but, once started, they pursued their 
researches with great vigor. In 1562 one of 
their adventurers. Sir John Hawkins, engaged 
in the slave trade, and carried cargoes of negroes 
to the West Indies. In 1577, Sir Francis Drake 
accomplished the circumnavigation of the globe. 
Attempts were made at the same period to dis- 
cover the northwestern passage, by Willoughby, 
Frobisher, Henr3r Hudson, and others. The 



THK AGE OF DISCOVERY. 57 

only attempt to found a colony in the New 
World during this century was made by Sir 
Walter Raleigh ; his step-brother, Sir Humph- 
rey Gilbert, had obtained the first charter ever 
granted an Englishman for a colony, but his 
project failed, and he himself perished at sea. 

A patent was granted Raleigh, constituting him 
lord proprietar}^, with almost unlimited powers, 
according to the Christian Protestant faith, of 
all land which he might discover between the 
thirt3^-third and fortieth degrees of north lati- 
tude. Under this patent Raleigh dispatched 
two vessels under the command of Philip Ami- 
das and Arthur Barlow. They landed on the 
island of Wococken and took possession in the 
name of Queen Elizabeth. The country they 
called Virginia, and such glowing accounts did 
they send back to England that seven vessels 
under Sir Richard Grenville were sent out, bear- 
ing one hundred and fifty colonists. As soon 
as these landed, Sir Richard Grenville took the 
ships back to England, capturing a rich Spanish 
prize on the v^ay. The colony fared very badly 
after a time, Lane, the governor, being utterly- 
unfit for his ofi&ce. The Indians wishing to get 
rid of their visitors, induced them to ascend the 
Roanoke River, on the upper banks of which, 
they declared, dwelt a nation skillful in refining 
gold, whose city was inclosed with a wall of 
pearls. After the gold rushed the colonists, but 



58 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

they found only famine and distress. The In- 
dians, on their return, refused to give them any 
more provisions, and even ceased to cultivate 
corn, hoping to drive out the Englishmen alto- 
gether. In revenge, the white men, having in- 
vited the chief to a conference, fell upon him and 
slew him, with many of his people. This was 
the end of their peaceful relations with the In- 
dians. The colony was on the verge of starva- 
tion when Sir Francis Drake, the slave-trading 
nobleman, appeared outside the harbor with a 
fleet of twenty-three ships. At the urgent 
prayer of the starving settlers. Sir Francis car- 
ried them back to England. Hardly had they 
gone before a ship laden with supplies, dis- 
patched by Raleigh, arrived. Finding the 
colony vanished, the ship returned. Before it 
reached England, Sir Richard Grenville arrived 
at Roanoke with three ships. After searching 
in vain for the missing colony, he also returned, 
leaving fifteen men on the island to hold posses- 
sion for the English. Still undiscouraged, 
Raleigh sent out a second colony, this time 
choosing agriculturists, and sending with them 
their wives and children. On reaching Roanoke 
they found the bones of the fifteen men Gren- 
ville had left, and the fort in ruins. Meanwhile 
the Spanish invasion was threatening England. 
Raleigh was one of the most active in devising 
schemes for resistance. It M^as almost a j^ear be- 



THE AGE OF DISCOVERY. 59 

fore he was able to send supplies to his colony 
at Roanoke ; this he did at last, but the captain, 
instead of proceeding straight on his mission, 
went in chase of two Spanish prizes, came to 
grief, and was obliged to return to England. 
By this time Raleigh's means were almost ex- 
hausted, but he managed to send out the relief 
ships, but they arrived too late. The island was 
a desert and the only clue to the fate of the 
colony was the word " Croatian " on the bark of 
a tree. It has been conjectured that they 
escaped, through the kindness of the Indians to 
Croatian ; perhaps they were received into some 
tribe and became a part of the wild men ; the 
Indians themselves have such a tradition. 
Raleigh sent five different search parties 
after his little colony, but none of them ever 
had the least success. 

In 1602 Bartholomew Gosnold reached the 
shores of Massachusetts, and, sailing southward, 
landed on a promontory which he called Cape 
Cod. He also discovered the islands of Martha's 
Vineyard and Nantucket. On the former they 
built a store-house and a fort, and prepared to 
settle, but when the ships got ready to sail, they 
lost their resolution and insisted upon returning 
to England. 



CHAPTER II. 

" GOOD OLD COLONY TIMES." 

THE history of the United States may be 
said to have beguu with the formation in 
England of a company for the purpose of form- 
ing colonies in America. This was called the 
Virginia Company, and to it was given the right 
to hold all the land from Cape Fear to the St. 
Croix River. The Company had two divisions 
— the London Company, with control over the 
southern territory, and the Plymouth Company, 
controlling the northern. It was the London 
Company who founded the first colony. Three 
vessels, under Captain Christopher Newport, 
sailed from England in the year 1607, with in- 
structions to land on Roanoke Island. A storm 
drove them into Chesapeake Bay, and so delighted 
were they with the beauty of its shores that the}^ 
determined ':o settle there. Sailing up the James 
River, -hey found a convenient spot for landing, 
and on the 13th of May the colony of Jamestown 
was established. There were about a hundred 
men in the party, many of them gentlemen of 
more or less precarious fortune, whose object in 
leaving their native land was almost entirely 
selfish. They expected to find gold, and so 
great was their greed that they v/ent directly to 



"good old colony times." 61 

washing dust, instead of cultivating the ground. 
The summer that followed was a terrible one. 
The location proved unhealthy, and more than 
half the colou}^ died of a pestilence. Only the 
friendly generosity of the Indians saved the rest 
from starvation. The situation was rendered 
more unendurable by quarrels and dissensions 
in the Governing Council, which consisted of 
seven men appointed before leaving England. 
In this Council had been Gosnold, the explorer. 
Captain Newport, and Captain John Smith. 
This latter personage was a man of marked in- 
dividuality, one of those characters not uncom- 
mon in history, who are as cordially detested by 
half the world as they are warmly admired by 
the other half. At first prevented by his ene- 
mies from taking his place in the Council at all, 
arrested and kept under a cloud for months, the 
following autumn finds him in supreme and 
solitary control of the entire colony. 

Things began to brighten a little at James- 
town. Supplies were plenty, and, under the 
careful management of Smith, promised to last 
all winter. Having nothing else to complain 
about, the dissenters now began to mutter 
against Smith for not having discovered the 
source of the Chickahominy, the theory being 
that the South Sea, or Pacific Ocean, was not far 
distant, and that some river running from the 
northwest would be sure to lead to it. Whether 



62 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

or not Smith had much hope of reaching the 
Pacific via the Chickahominy River is uncertain, 
but he did make an attempt to trace the stream 
to its head. 

His adventures on that memorable voyage 
have been told in every history of the colonies 
and in every school geography since. How 
much is truth and how much imagination it is 
impossible to decide ; it should be stated that 
the original story came from a person not so 
much celebrated for veracity as for other excel- 
lent qualities — that is to say, from Captain John 
Smith himself. 

Nine white men accompanied him on the trip 
up the river. When at length the barge could 
advance no further. Captain Smith returned 
some miles to a bay, where he moored his bark 
out of danger, and, taking two men and two 
Indian guides, he proceeded in a canoe twenty 
miles higher up the river. The men in the 
barge had strict orders not to leave until their 
commander returned. As soon as he was fairly 
out of sight, the order was disobeyed ; the men 
went on shore, and one of them was killed by 
Indians. 

Smith, meantime, had neared the head of the 
river. The country was very wet and marshy, 
but there was no indication of the proximity of 
the Pacific Ocean. The canoe was tied up, and 
Smith took his gun and one Indian and went on 



"good old colony times." 63 

shore after food for his party. But, as it turned 
out, the landing-place was ill-chosen. The two 
men in the canoe were set upon by Indians and 
killed, and Smith, after a desperate resistance, 
was captured. He asked for their chief, and 
was led before Opechancanough. Smith pre- 
sented to him a mariner's compass, which so 
entertained the savages that they forbore their 
first murderous intentions and contented them- 
selves with leading him captive to the town of 
Orapakes, which was about twelve miles from 
what is now the city of Richmond. Here he was 
confined in one of the houses, and an enormous 
quantity of food set before him. It is not proba- 
ble that his appetite was very good, under the 
circumstances. His captivity was not devoid of 
pleasant features, however ; an Indian, who had 
received some kindness at the hands of the 
Jamestown colonists, showed his gratitude b}^ 
presenting to Smith a warm fur garment. 
While the orgies and incantations were going on 
— supposedly with a view to divine the pris- 
oner's intentions concerning the Indians — Opit- 
chapan, brother of Chief Opechancanough, who 
dwelt a little above, came down to see the great 
white man, and entertained him hospitably. 

At last it was decided to take the prisoner to 
the chief place of council, and to let the exalted 
Powhatan pronounce his fate. Accordingly they 
journeyed to Werowocomoco, on the York River 



64 " MY COUNTRY, 'tis OF THEE.'* 

— tlien known as the Pamaunkee. Here they 
found Powhatan, reclining in rude state on a 
sort of a throne covered with mats, and further 
adorned by the presence of two dusky maidens, 
splendid with feathers and beads and red paint. 
The captive was received with solemn ceremony, 
a feast was spread, and then a long consultation 
took place. The result was a sentence of death. 
Two large stones are brought and laid one 
upon the other before Powhatan ; behold savage 
hands seize upon the unhappy Smith and lay 
his head upon the stones ; the war-clubs are 
poised in air, the chief's hand starts to give the 
fatal sign ; at the foot of the throne, one gentle 
heart is throbbing wildly with mingled love and 
fear ; poor little Pocahontas, while the stones 
were being brought, put in her plea for mercy, 
but it was not even noticed ; she is the dearest 
thing in the world to that stern old chief, but 
even she has never yet dared dispute his au- 
thority. But when she sees that hand raised, 
her fear is swept away, everything is swept away 
but love ; she utters one mad cry, and, flying 
from her place, throws herself down beside Jiiin^ 
clasps his form in her arms and lays her head 
upon his. The fairest woman in the world saves 
the bravest man. Oh ! most charming picture in 
history! Men pretend to believe that it is alia 
fabrication. What if it is ? To leave it out of 
the liistor}^ books takes all the color from the 



,g0m m 

^ -K''> 

^ A' - -- 



f^ 











" GOOD OLD COLONY TIMES." G5 

story of those days. If it didn't liappen, it 
might have happened. Certainly something 
happened, for two days later Smith was per- 
mitted to return to Jamestown on the absurd 
little condition of sending back two great guns 
and a grindstone. This condition Smith faith- 
fully fulfilled, to his credit, and in addition to the 
cannon and the grindstone he sent presents to 
Powhatan's wives and children. Records are so 
stupid at times ; they are careful in this case to 
mention the grindstone, but they give not the 
slightest hint of what Captain Smith sent Poca- 
hontas. Smith's conduct all through that affair 
is puzzling. By every canon of romance, he 
should have married the princess. That it was 
otherwise is the best proof of the truth of the 
story, for true stories always end inartistically. 

When Smith returned to Jamestown, he found 
things going very b^dl}^, and the number of the 
colonists reduced to forty. He set to work to 
encourage them, and to make his task easier, a 
ship laden with stores and with additional set- 
tlers now arrived. The Indians were friendly, 
and great numbers of them appeared at James- 
town to trade. Pocahontas came, too, and brought 
all sorts of things to Captain Newport and to 
Smith, which she had undoubtedly wheedled out 
of her father, the great Powhatan. 

When Captain Newport returned to England, 
he took with him twenty turkeys which Powha- 



66 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

tan had given liim in exchange for twenty swords. 
This bargain pleased the old chief so much that 
he tried to effect a similar one with Smith. 
Failing, and becoming infuriated, he ordered his 
people to go to Jamestown and take the weapons 
by force. The President of the colony, under 
pretense of orders from England not to offend 
the natives, would have allowed the robbery to 
take place, but Smith rose in wrath and drove 
the intruders from the settlement. 

Another ship, the " Phoenix," now arrived. 
The colony was increased to nearly two hundred 
souls. There were plenty of provisions and the 
sword dif&culty, thanks to the mediation of 
Pocahontas, had been amicably settled, so that 
all hostilities w^ere at an end for the time being. 
The year was 1608. 

Smith continued his explorations, sailing 
around Chesapeake Bay and up to the head of 
the Potomac River. He traveled not less than 
three thousand miles that summer, and that his 
worth was beginning to be appreciated at James- 
town is evidenced by the fact that on his return 
he had the pleasure of accepting the presidency 
of the colony. This had been offered him before, 
but he had declined it. 

Now he set about his duties in earnest. The 
men were put to work, some making glass, pre- 
paring tar and pitch, while Smith with thirty 
others went five miles below the fort to cut down 



"good old colony times." 67 

trees and to saw planks. The Jamestown colony 
was always unfortunate in having too many ad- 
venturer-gentlemen in it. Smith had a hard time 
with them, but by his tact and good management 
he got more work out of them than any one else 
could have done. 

Their life, diversified with some struggles with 
the Indians, a good deal of internal bickering 
and considerable ill-luck with crops, etc., con- 
tinued for another year. In 1609 an addition to 
the colony of five hundred men and women, with 
stores and provisions, set sail from England. 
But these new settlers had no sooner landed 
than new troubles began. The leaders, although 
they brought no commission with them, insisted 
on assuming authority over the original colony, 
defying Smith, whom they feared and hated. 

Anarchy reigned for a time. The ring-leaders, 
Ratcliffe, Archer, and others, were imprisoned. 
West, with one hundred and twenty men, formed 
an independent settlement at the falls of the 
James River, and another one hundred and 
twenty, under Alartin, established themselves at 
Nansemond. But these leaders were unable to 
deal fairly with the Indians, and the new settle- 
ments were abandoned after much bloodshed. 
Smith did what he could to effect peace, but fail- 
ing, gave up in disgust and returned to England. 

After his departure, things went from bad to 
worse. Within six months vice and starvation 



68 " MY COUNTRY, 'tis OF THEE." 

had reduced the colony from five hundred to 
sixty persons, and these must also have perished 
had not relief come from Kngland. 

Shortly afterward Lord Delaware was sent 
out to be Governor of the colony. He brought 
with him supplies and a large number of emi- 
grants. Following these came seven hundred 
more. The land, which had hitherto been held in 
common, was divided among the colonists, and an 
era of wise government and contented prosperity 
began. In 1613 Pocahontas married John Rolfe, 
and this event improved greatly the relations be- 
tween the white people and the Indians. But 
three years after it occurred, Pocahontas and her 
husband went to Burope, where the gentle little 
woman died. She was deeply mourned by her 
husband and by her people, for she was not only 
good but she was beautiful and very clever. 
Powhatan did not long survive his daughter, 
and thus were the two best friends of the white 
men removed. The rapid increase of the colo- 
nists, and the spread of their settlements, began 
to alarm the Indians, and in 1622 a conspiracy 
was formed to destroy and wipe out the invasion 
of Buropeans. 

It is necessary to mention one or two events 
in the colony before this year. In 16 15 the cul- 
tivation of tobacco was begun on a large scale. 
Other pursuits were neglected and corn was 
scarcely raised at all. The new article of com- 



" GOOD OLD COLONY TIMES." 69 

merce proved so profitable that it became a 
perfect mania. In 1619 the first legislative body 
ever organized in America met at Jamestown, 
where a colonial constitution was adopted. The 
next year (1620) a Dutch man-of-war sailed up 
the James and landed twenty negroes who were 
sold as slaves. The same year a cargo of young 
white women were sent over and sold as wives — 
a position supposed to be a little better than that 
of slaves. The price paid was one hundred and 
twenty pounds of tobacco per wife. 

The colonists were unprepared for the hostili- 
ties which followed the death of Powhatan. His 
dominion passed to his brother Opitchapan, a 
feeble old man feared b}^ no one. But there was 
one man who soon began to incite the natives 
to war. This man was the captor of Smith, 
Opechancanough. He has been called by some 
the brother of Powhatan, but this opinion is 
erroneous. He came of one of the tribes of the 
southwest, probably Mexico, and rose to his 
position of leader only through his natural ability 
to govern. Inspired with a hatred of the white 
men, he visited in person all the tribes of the 
confederacy of Powhatan and roused them to 
murderous fury. A few people in the colony 
scented danger, but the majority were so secure 
in the belief of safety that it was impossible to 
induce them to take measures for their own pro- 
tection. The settlements were now eighty in 



70 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

number and spread in separate plantations over 
a space of three or four hundred miles. 

On Friday, the 22d day of March, 1622, the 
Indians came into the settlements as usual with 
game and fish and fruits, which they offered for 
sale in the market place. Suddenly a shrill 
signal cry rang out, and then began a hideous 
scene of blood and death. In one morning three 
hundred and forty-nine settlers were massacred. 
It is remarkable that one single white man 
should have escaped, but surprised and defense- 
less as they were, the settlers rallied and actually 
succeeded in putting their assailants to flight. 
The village of Jamestown was warned of its 
danger by a young Indian woman, preparations 
for defense were hurriedly made, but no assault 
occurred. 

The wildest panic now seized the colonists. 
Distant plantations were abandoned, and in a 
short time, instead of eighty settlements, there 
were only six, and these were huddled closely 
around Jamestown. The war with the Indians 
kept up incessantly. Opechancanough pursued 
the white men with deadly hatred, and the 
white men never lost an opportunity of murder- 
ing an Indian. 

In 1624 the London Company was dissolved, 
and Virginia was declared a royal government. 
The colony retained the right to a representative 
assembly and of trial by jury. All the succeed- 



" GOOD OLD COLONY TIMES." 71 

ing colonies claimed these rights, so that it was 
in Virginia that the foundation of American in- 
dependence -was laid. 

Indian hostilities continued — grew worse, in 
fact, as the whites increased in number and in 
power. There was but one end to such an un- 
equal struggle. It came about the year 1643. 
Opechancanough was a very old man — he had 
lived a hundred years ; he could no longer walk 
alone — his very eyelids had to be lifted by the 
fingers of an attendant ; but within his withered 
frame the spirit of hatred and bitterness was as 
full of energy as ever. His power over the con- 
federacy of Powhatan was as great as of old, and 
once again he roused the savages to an attempt 
at a general massacre. 

Five hundred white men were butchered, but 
Sir William Berkeley, placing himself at the 
head of a large body of troops, marched against 
the Indians and not only utterly routed them, 
but captured their aged chief and took him back 
to Jamestown. The confederacy instantly dis- 
solved, and the white men's power over the land 
was established more firmly than ever. 

The second permanent settlement in the 
United States — or what is now the United 
States — was made by the Dutch in 1614. A 
fort was built on the extremity of the island 
on which New York now stands ; another was 
erected at the site of the city of Albany, and 



72 



" MY COUNTRY, 'TIS Oi^ THEE." 



the country between was called New Nether- 
lands. The next year a settlement of some im- 
portance was made at Albany, but for many 




THE FIRST SETTLEMENT OF NEW YORK. 

years the fort on Manhattan Island was a mere 
trading-post. 

The first thing the Dutch did was to make 



"good old colony times." 73 

treaties with the Indians. The Five Nations 
had long been at war with the Algonquins in 
Canada. The latter had allied with the French, 
who had settled there some years before, and 
with their aid defeated the Iroquois. It was with 
the hope of similar reinforcement that the Iro- 
quois now hastened to make friends with this 
new colony of white men. The great treaty was 
made in 1618, on the banks of Norman's Kill, 
and was witnessed by ambassadors from every 
tribe of the Five Nations. The pipe of peace 
was smoked and the hatchet buried, and on the 
spot where the emblem of war w^as hidden the 
Dutch vowed to erect a church. 

Thus was the quiet possession of the country 
and of the Indian trade guaranteed the inhab- 
itants of New Netherlands. 

The actual colonization of the place began at 
once, but it was not until 1625 ^^^^ a governor 
was appointed. In 163 1 the Dutch possessions 
extended from Cape Henlopen to Cape Cod. 
This claim was disputed by the English settlers 
in New England, who also formed colonies on 
Long Island and in Connecticut. They en- 
deavored to trade with the Hudson River 
Indians, and finally, in 1633, an English ship 
appeared at New Amsterdam. The governor, 
old Wouter van Twiller, ordered it to depart, 
but the captain, one Jacob Eelkins, went on 
shore, and, in a friendly sort of a way, requested 



74 



" MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 



permission to ascend the river. He added, 
casually, that while he would be very grateful 
for the permission, he intended to proceed 
whether it was granted or not. The governor's 
answer was to order the Prince of Orange's flag 
to be run up on the fort, and a salute of three 
guns to be fired for Holland. Whereupon 




NEW YORK IN 1644. 

Eel kins ran up the English flag, and saluted with 
three guns the King of England. Then he 
sailed up the river to Fort Orange, where he 
set up a lively trade with the natives. This 
\vas the beginning of a gradual usurpation of 
power. 

Trouble with the Indians now began, which 
lasted until 1645. ^^ 1638 the Swedes settled on 
the Delaware near the site of Wilmington, and 



''good old colony times." 75 

extended tlieir possessions until, in 1655, the 
Dutch attacked and conquered them. In 1664 
the King of England granted his brother James 
all the country between the Connecticut and the 
Delaware. He had not the smallest right to do 
so, for the land belonged to the Dutch both by 
right of discovery and of settlement, England 
and Holland were at peace, and the overthrow of 
the Dutch dominion in America was an act of 
glaring injustice, and it is only surprising that 
Holland made such feeble resistance. 

There is little that is important but much that 
is interesting in the history of these Dutch settle- 
ments. Slavery had been in existence since 1628 
but it was slavery in a comparatively mild form. 
It was allowed a man to purchase his own freedom 
and a great number of slaves did so. A very 
democratic spirit reigned throughout the colony. 
The republican sentiment which they had 
brought with them from Holland, never left these 
settlers. There was no religious persecution, no 
intolerance, no such cruel wrongs committed 
in the name of right as in New England. They 
were good, honest burghers. They built mills 
and breweries, and raised fat cattle and grew fat 
themselves and were very happy. 

The first attempt to colonize New England 
was made by Gosnold in 1602, and was unsuc- 
cessful. In 1606 the Plymouth company estab- 
lished a settlement at the mouth of the Ken- 



76 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

nebec River, but the forty-five daring spirits of 
which it was composed abandoned it after a 
winter of suffering, and returned to England. 
Captain John Smith explored the coast in 1614, 
making a map of its length and giving it its 
present name. His earnest attempts at coloni- 
zation failed, and it was not until the arrival of 
the Puritans in 1620 that a permanent settle- 
ment was formed. 

These Puritans, it is scarcely necessary to ex- 
plain, were the most austere of the English 
" Non-Conformists," or dissenters of the Estab- 
lished Church. Most of them were Notting- 
hamshire farmers, and so mercilessly v/ere they 
persecuted at home on account of their religion 
that they determined to emigrate to Holland, 
where a London congregation had fled some 
years before, and where they in turn were fol- 
lowed by a Lincolnshire congregation. Holland 
becoming the seat of violent political agitation, 
they resolved to emigrate to America. In Juh^, 
1620, they embarked for England in the ship 
" Speedwell." At Southampton the}^ met the 
" Mayflower," which was also engaged for the 
voyage. They put to sea twice, but were obliged 
to return, as the " Speedwell " proved unsea- 
worthy. Finally the " Mayflower " sailed alone 
on the 6th of September. Their destination 
was a point near the Hudson River,- just within 
the boundaries of the territory of the London 



" GOOD OLD COLONY TiMES/' 77 

Company. This must have been the sea-coast of 
the State of New Jersey. 

At early dawn of the 9th of November, 1620, 
the white sand-banks of Massachusetts came 
into sight ; their course lay to the south, but so 
dangerous became the shoals and breakers that 
they resolved to retrace their vessel's way, and 
two days later, at noon, they dropped anchor in 
the bay formed by the curved peninsula which 
terminates in Cape Cod. 

Here, while the vessel lay at anchor, a brief 
governmental compact was drawn up, and John 
Carver, who had been very prominent in obtain- 
ing the King's permission for their enterprise, 
was chosen governor of the colony. In the after- 
noon " fifteen or sixteen men well armed " were 
sent on shore to reconnoitre and to collect fuel. 
They returned at evening bringing good report 
of the country, and the welcome news that there 
was neither person nor dwelling in sight. The 
next day was Sunday, which the emigrants kept 
as strictly as usual. Monday morning, while 
the women washed and the men began their 
labors by hauling a boat on shore for repairs. 
Miles Standish and sixteen men set off on foot 
to explore the country. They returned Friday 
evening bringing some Indian corn which they 
had found in a deserted hut. The explorations 
were kept up for several weeks. At last a suita- 



78 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

ble location was decided upon ; there was a 
convenient Harbor, the country was well wooded ; 
it had clay, sand, and shells for bricks and mor- 
tar, and stone for chimneys ; there was plenty of 
good water, and the sea and beach contained a 
plentiful supply of fish and fowl. It was on 
Christmas Day that they landed. The record 
says : " Monday, the 25th day, we went on shore, 
some to fell timber, some to saw, some to rive, 
and some to carry ; so no man rested all that 
day." They first erected a building for common 
occupation. Nineteen plots for dwelling-houses 
were laid out, and in spite of the bitter cold the 
little settlement gradually built itself into a town. 
Sickness set in, and within four months' time 
one-half of their number was swept away. It 
was a terrible winter, but there was no inclina- 
tion to weaken or to despond on the part of the 
heroic Pilgrims. They were in constant fear of 
the Indians, and the necessity for defenses be- 
coming daily more apparent, a military organi- 
zation was formed, with the valiant Miles 
Standish as Captain, and the fortification on the 
hill overlooking the dwellings was mounted with 
five guns. 

" Warm and fair weather" came at last ; and 
never could spring have seemed fairer to these 
people than when it greeted them first in New 
England. The colony at Plymouth grew and 



"good old colony times." 79 

prospered. The Indians made several threats of 
hostility but were each time repressed by Miles 
Standish and his men. 

In 1628 another settlement was made at Salem, 
under John Bndicott. The next year this colony 
was large enough to admit of a lively quarrel, 
the consequence of which was a division of inter- 
ests and the establishment of Charlestown. In 
1630 the " Colony of Massachusetts Bay" was 
augmented by the arrival of a large number of 
settlers, many of them being people of education 
and refinement. The towns of Boston, Water- 
town, Roxbury, and Dorchester were founded. 
In August the first Court of Assistants met since 
the arrival of the colonists, and voted to build 
houses and to raise salaries for ministers. This 
year was made a bold step toward the establish- 
ment of civil liberty in the removing of the 
governing council from England to Massachu- 
setts. In 1633 the settlement of Connecticut 
was begun. In another year there were " between 
three and four thousand Englishmen distributed 
among twenty hamlets along and near the sea- 
shore." 

It seems a good deal of a pity that these grand 
old Pilgrim Fathers had so little sense of humor, 
else the absurdity of allowing no one liberty of 
conscience, after they themselves had fled from 
just such a state of affairs, must have dawned 
upon them. The early history of New England 



80 " MY COUNTRY, 'tis OF THEE." 

is one long catalogue of religious persecutions. 
To the first of these is due the settlement of 
Rhode Island. Later dissensions helped to 
people Connecticut, Maine, and New Hamp- 
shire. 

Roger Williams was a talented young Puritan 
preacher who had been driven out of England 
by the intolerance of Archbishop Laud. Arriv- 
ing in Boston, he found himself quite as much 
out of harmony with the Church in that place 
as he had been with the Church of England. 
He was subsequently called to a Salem pastorate, 
where his doctrines were very popular ; ever}^- 
where else in the colonies they were regarded as 
abominable. No wonder, for the obnoxious 
parson declared boldl}^ that it was wrong to en- 
force an oath of allegiance to any monarch or 
magistrate, that all religious sects had a right to 
claim equal protection from the laws, and that 
civil magistrates had no right to restrain the 
consciences of men, or to interfere with their 
modes of worship or religious beliefs. This 
heretical doctrine, if carried to its logical con- 
clusion, would permit even Roman Catholics and 
Quakers to dwell in peace ! It was decided to 
send Williams to England, where he would un- 
doubtedly have fared ill, for he had preached a 
crusade against the cross of St. George in the 
English standard, pronouncing it a relic of 
superstition and idolatry, and so inflaming the 




ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



"good old colony times.'* 81 

. hearts of his people, that Bndicott, one of the 
members of the Court of Assistants, publicly 
cut out the cross from the flag displayed before 
the governor's house. So Williams refused to 
obey the order to return to England, and, leav- 
ing the colony with a few of his friends, traveled 
southward, and planted a settlement which he 
named Providence. This was in 1636. The 
following year his new colony was reinforced by 
another company of religious refugees, who 
merit more than passing notice. 

New England had become the Mecca of all who 
were estranged from the Established Church at 
home. Crowds of new settlers flocked thither, 
lured by the hope of what they called religious 
liberty. Among these were two especially con- 
spicuous figures — Hugh Peters, the enthusiastic 
chaplain of Oliver Cromwell, and Henry Vane, 
son of Sir Henry Vane, a Privy Counsellor in 
high favor with the King. Vane was received 
in the colony with great admiration ; and indeed, 
the religious zeal which induced him to relin- 
quish all his prospects in England and embrace 
poverty and exile for conscience' sake is to be 
highly commended. His humilit}^ of manner 
and rigidity in religious observances, as well as 
his business ability, caused him to be elected 
governor of the colony about as soon as he 
arrived. But practical duties occupied little of 
his attention ; he was almost entirely taken up 



82 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

with theological subtleties and doctrinal hair- 
splittings. These were excited still further by 
a woman whose influence at that time began to 
create great disturbance throughout the entire 
colony. It was the custom in New Hngland for 
the chief men in the congregations to hold 
weekly meetings, in order to repeat and discuss 
the sermon of the previous Sunday. From these 
meetings women were sternly excluded, and one 
Mrs, Hutchinson, whose husband was a promi- 
nent man in the colony, began to assemble in 
her house a number of women, who held pious 
exercises similar to those of the men. At first 
Mrs. Hutchinson satisfied herself with repeating 
the sermons and teachings of the clergyman, but 
soon she began to pick flaws in the discourses 
and to add opinions of her own. She taught that 
sanctity of works was no sign of spiritual safety, 
but that God dwelt personally within all good 
men, and it was alone by inward revelations and 
impressions that they received the discoveries of 
the divine will. It was all very abstract and un- 
healthy, but so eloquently was it set forth and 
proclaimed by the prophetess that she gained a 
vast number of proselytes, not alone among the 
women, but the men as well. Vane defended 
and upheld her wildest theories, and, following 
his example, the interest increased. The dis- 
sension grew more bitter with every conference, 
every day of fasting and humiliation held by the 



" GOOD OLD COLONY TIMES." 83 

new sect. Finally, in 1637, ^^^^- Hutchinson 
was banished, and many of her disciples with- 
drew voluntarily and joined the Providence 
population. Vane returned to England in dis- 
gust, and no one lamented his departure. 

Roger Williams's colony, so largely increased, 
purchased from the Indians a fertile island in 
Narragansett Bay, to which they gave the name 
Rhode Island. In this community no religious 
persecutions were allowed. The humane prin- 
ciples of its founder were firmly instilled into 
the hearts of the people, and Rhode Island soon 
became a refuge for the oppressed of all the 
other settlements. 

Connecticut owes its origin to similar causes. 
The rivalship of two pastors in the Massachu- 
setts Bay settlement resulted in the victory of 
Mr. Cotton over Mr. Hooker ; the latter, how- 
ever, was not deserted, by any means, and when 
he proposed establishing a colony of his own at 
a distance from his rival, a goodly number of his 
friends and some of Mrs. Hutchinson's admirers 
offered to accompany him. The west bank of 
the Connecticut River was decided upon as an 
inviting spot, and in 1636 about a hundred men, 
with their wives and children and chattels, after 
a terrible march through wildernesses of swamp 
and forest, arrived there and laid the foundation 
of a town. 

Pennsylvania was granted, in 1681, to Wil- 



84 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

Ham Peuu, who had previously been interested 
in the settlement of Quakers in New Jersey. 
He soon after obtained a grant of the present 
State of Delaware, then called " The Territories," 
In September, 1682, he set sail for his new prov- 
ince, with a large number of his co-religionists. 
The story of their peaceful settlement is familiar 
to all. The code of laws governing them had 
for its foundation the principle of civil and re- 
ligious liberty. Penn returned to England in 
1684, leaving the city of Philadelphia, which he 
had founded and named, a prosperous town of 
three hundred houses and a population of two 
thousand five hundred. These Quakers, it must 
be said, had very little in common with the sect 
which w^as so persecuted in the New England 
States. These latter were really a body of sepa- 
ratists, called Ranters^ and their excesses were 
such as to justify the horror and disgust of any 
community. 

The settlement of the southern colonies of the 
United States may be dealt with briefly. Georgia 
was not settled until 1732. The provinces of 
North and South Carolina were originally one. 
The earliest permanent settlements were made 
by emigrants from Virginia in 1650. In 1665 
another settlement was made by a party of 
planters from Barbadoes. A Huguenot colony 
from France was sent out by the King of Eng- 
land. The city of Charlestown was founded, and 



" GOOD OLD COLONY TIMES." 85 

was at once made the capital of the colony. The 
most interesting feature attending the settlement 
of the Carolinas was the " Grand Model Govern- 
ment " devised by John Locke, the celebrated 
English philosopher. The object was to make 
the colony as nearly as possible like the mon- 
archy of which it was a part, and to " avoid erect- 
ing a numerous democracy." The scheme never 
took root in Carolina. The Grand Nobles, Pala- 
tines, Caciques, and other exalted officers were 
in absurd contrast to the rude cabins and pio- 
neer habits of living. For twenty years efforts 
were made to establish it, and the discord of 
which the contest was the cause materially inter- 
fered with the rapid growth of the colony. 

The State of Virginia was also inclined to an 
aristocratic form of government ; its people 
boasted themselves "staunch advocates of the 
Church of England and partisans of the King." 
When Charles I was executed, they accepted the 
Commonwealth without a pretense of enthu- 
siasm, and when Charles II came to the throne 
they welcomed the change with great rejoicings. 
Shortly afterward, however, a royal governor, 
Sir William Berkley, was sent out to them, and 
such a tyrant he proved to be that the people 
became exasperated. Commercial laws were in- 
stituted that bade fair to beggar the planters ; 
tobacco, for instance, could be sent to none but 
English ports, and it had not only to pay a large 



86 " MY COUNTRY, 'tis OF THEE." 

duty on reaching England, but it was taxed 
heavily before leaving. The government took 
no steps to repress the Indian outrages which 
were constantly occurring; the Assembly, in- 
stead of being elected every two years, was kept 
permanently in session, and the countr}'- was 
overrun with office-seekers. The culmination of 
these troubles was the outbreak known as the 
Bacon Rebellion, which commenced in 1675, and 
grew principally out of the indifference of the 
authorities on the Indian question. Nothing de- 
cisive was gained by this rebellion, but it is 
mentioned to show the disposition of the people 
against tyranny. 

The other English colonies were instituted 
under conditions of liberality, and, in spite of 
their bigotry and intolerance, they enjoyed far 
more religious and political liberty than any 
European country of that day. The home gov- 
ernment took no part in their original formation, 
except in the very easy requirements of the 
charters granted the proprietors. Lord Balti- 
more was left at full liberty to establish his own 
form of government in Maryland, and his pref- 
erence was extremely liberal. William Penn 
was not interfered with in Pennsylvania. The 
government of Plymouth was formed without 
any restriction or even suggestion from abroad, 
by a party of self-reliant men, who were w^ell 
fitted by temperament and experience for self- 



" GOOD OLD COLONY TIMES." 87 

government. All the New England colonies 
gradually assumed the prerogatives of govern- 
ment, even to the power of capital punishment. 
In 1643 ^ further step in the evolution of a re- 
public was made ; the colonies of Massachusetts, 
Connecticut, New Haven, and Plymouth united 
under the title of The United Colonies of New 
England. Rhode Island was not admitted, be- 
cause she would not consent to be incorporated 
with Plymouth. Rhode Island differed from all 
the colonies, in that there was no religious re- 
striction to the rights of citizenship. New 
Hampshire was then a part of the Massachusetts 
colony. The governing body of the confederacy 
consisted of an annual Assembly of two deputies 
from each colony — whose local government con- 
tinued as before. This independence was scarcely 
interfered with by the mother country until after 
the death of Cromwell. With the re-establish- 
ment of the monarchy came the desire to restrict 
the liberties of the colonies, grown flourishing 
and important. Charles II granted his brother 
James, the Duke of York, the whole territory 
from the Connecticut River to the shores of the 
Delaware, and this grant was followed by the 
illegal seizure of New Amsterdam, thereafter 
New York. The Duke of York made Edmund 
Andros governor of the province, and began a 
series of tyrannies, which only increased with 
the accession of the Duke to the throne. Andros 



88 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

was now made governor of all the New Bnglaud 
provinces, his rule extending over New York. 
On arriving in Boston, in 1686, he immediately 
demanded a surrender of all the charters of the 
colonies, while edicts were issued annuling the 
existing liberties of the people. Connecticut re- 
fused to give up its charter, and Andros marched 
to Hartford with a body of soldiers to enforce the 
order. This was in 1687. An entirely new 
order of things now began. The liberty of the 
press was restrained, and the laws for the sup- 
port of the clergy were suspended. Magistrates 
only were allowed to perform marriage cere- 
monies. The people were taxed at the governor's 
pleasure, and, above all, titles of the colonists to 
their lands were declared of no value. Indian 
deeds Sir Edmund esteemed no better than a 
" scratch of a bear's claw." Kven grants by 
charter and declarations of preceding kings were 
insufficient. The owners were obliged to take 
out patents for their estates, and in some cases a 
fee of fift}^ pounds was demanded. People were 
fined and imprisoned in the most arbitrary way; 
all town meetings were prohibited, except the one 
in May ; no person was permitted to leave the 
country without leave from the governor. De- 
spite his pains, however, petitions were sent to 
England, but if they were read the}' were not 
heeded. Early in 1689 came the news of the 
accession of William of Orange. The people 



"good old colony times." 89 

immediately rose up against Andros, and forced 
him to leave the countr}'. In New York State a 
similar uprising against their tyrant, the lieu- 
tenant of Andros, took place at the same time, 
known as the Leisler Revolt. 

The people renewed their former mode of gov- 
ernment, without being interfered with, at first, 
by the new monarch. In 1692 a new charter was 
granted Massachusetts, which differed from the 
original one in little, except that the King re- 
served the right to appoint a royal governor. 

About this time the influence of the several 
wars which had raged in Europe between Eng- 
land and France began to manifest itself in the 
colonies of those countries in America. Invasions 
of each other's territory became frequent, in which 
the Indians took part, glad of a chance to give 
vent to their savage instincts in murdering the 
white men. King William's war raged from 
1689 ^o ^^97- I^ 1702 another war broke out 
between France and England, and was marked 
by much bloodshed in America. The Iroquois 
were neutral in this contest, thus preserving 
New York from danger, the weight of suffering 
falling upon New England. The English inva- 
sion of Canada was begun in 17 10, when Port 
Royal was captured and its name changed to 
Annapolis. Nova Scotia — or Acadia — Avas per- 
manently added to the English possessions. In 
17 1 3 the war ended, with the peace of Utrecht, 



90 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

and in the succeeding thirty years of tranquillity 
the colonies gained rapidly in population and 
importance. Hostilities broke out again in 1744, 
and scarcely ceased until the close of the French 
and Indian war. 

This war, unlike the others, had its origin in 
America and ended in a decided change in the 
relative positions of the French and English 
colonies. The original basis of the contest was 
a dispute as to the ownership of the territory 
bordering on the Ohio. The real merits of the 
case may be summed up in the pertinent inquiry 
sent by two of the Indian chieftains to inquire 
" where the Indians' land lay, for the French 
claimed all the land on one side of the river and 
the English on the other." Neither of the 
colonial contestants had the slightest right to 
the territory. 

The first offensive act v/as committed by the 
French, who seized three British traders who had 
advanced into the disputed country. The Indians, 
aroused by these evident hostilities, began their 
border ravages, instigated by the French. Orders 
now arrived from England to the Governor of 
Virginia, directing him to build two forts near 
the Ohio to prevent French encroachments and 
to check Indian depredations. But the order 
came too late ; the French had alread}^ built forts 
and had taken possession of the territor3\ It 
M^as decided to send a messenger to the com- 



"good old colony times." 91 

mander of the French forces on the Ohio and 
demand his anthority for invading the territory 
of Virginia. For this mission was selected a 
young man of onl}^ twenty-one years, but who 
was alread}^ a Major in the Virginia militia and 
a man of note in the colony — the man was 
George Washington. His journey occupied 
fort3'-one days and was full of exciting adventure. 
His consultation Avith the French authorities left 
no doubt as to their martial attitude, and Major 
Washington returned at once to Virginia, where 
efforts were immediately begun to raise a colonial 
army. The other colonies took little interest in 
the affair and Virginia had to depend mainl}^ on 
herself. As soon, however, as it became apparent 
that war with France was inevitable, the necessity 
for co-operation in the colonies was demonstrated, 
and the Bnglish government recommended that 
a convention be held at Albany for the purpose 
of forming a league M'ith the Iroquois, and also 
of devising a plan of general defense against the 
enemy. The convention met in June, 1754, 
made a treaty with the Six Nations, and consid- 
ered the subject of colonial union. A plan was 
proposed by Benjamin Franklin, of Philadelphia, 
Postmaster-General of America, and even then 
regarded as one of the ablest thinkers in the 
colonies. This plan Avas adopted — by odd coin- 
cidence — on the 4th of Juh^ It provided a 
general government for the American colonies, 



92 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

presided over by a governor-general appointed 
by the King, and condncted by a council chosen 
by the colonial legislatures. The council was to 
have the power to raise troops, declare war, make 
peace, collect money, and pass all measures 
necessary for public safet3^ The veto power 
was relegated to the governor-general, and all 
laws were to be submitted for approval to the 
King. 

But the plan was rejected, both by the colonial 
Assemblies and by the King; by the former 
because it gave too much power to the King, and 
by the latter because it gave too much power to 
the colonies. Then the British ministry took 
the control of the war into its own hands and 
determined to send out an army strong enough 
to force the French within their rightful lines. 
It was early in 1755 that Braddock was dis- 
patched from Ireland with two regiments of 
infantry to co-operate with the Virginia forces. 
Fighting began at once, although no actual de- 
claration of war between the two countries was 
made until a full year and a half later. 

The interesting and important events of this 
war must be merely alluded to; the result was 
victory for the English, the treaty of peace being 
signed in Paris, February loth, 1763. By its 
terms, Canada, Nova Scotia, and Cape Breton 
were to belong to England ; France relinquished 
all claim to the territory east of the Mississippi, 



" GOOD OLD COLONY TIMES." 93 

and was confirmed in lier title to the country- 
west ; Spain ceded to Great Britain Florida and 
all its title to country east of the Mississippi 
River. The most important result of the war 
was felt in the colonies, rather than in England. 
It educated a nation of soldiers ; it taught the 
Americans how strong they really were, and how 
little they need depend on Great Britain for 
defense. The hard feeling engendered by the 
superiority assumed by the Bnglish officers and 
the enforced subordination of the Americans was 
the beginning of a breach which was destined 
never to be healed. A vast amount of debt is 
always a result of war. The colonies had lost 
above thirty thousand men, and their debt 
amounted to nearly four million pounds. Mas- 
sachusetts alone had been reimbursed by Parlia- 
ment. England herself was smothered in debts 
— she had been through four wars in seventy 
years — and her indebtedness reached the appal- 
ling sum of one hundred and forty million 
pounds. The scheme of colonial taxation to 
provide a certain and a regular revenue began to 
be agitated. But the colonies already had a 
heavy burden of taxation. The}'- were in no 
mood to receive patiently any further encroach- 
ments on their civil rights. Many of the old 
laws of restriction on commerce — the duties on 
sugar and molasses, for example — had long been 
openly evaded. Until the accession of George 



94 '' MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

Ill the authorities made no resistance to this 
opposition, but in 1761, when the third George 
came to the throne — that " very obstinate young 
man," as Charles Townshend described him — 
determined to enforce the law, and " writs of 
assistance " — that is, search warrants — were 
issued, by which custom-house officers were 
empowered to search for goods which had 
avoided the payment of duty. The people of 
Boston resented these measures vigorously, and 
in spite of official vigilance smuggling increased, 
while the colonial trade with the West Indies 
was well-nigh destroyed. 

In 1764 the sugar duties were reduced, but new 
duties were imposed on articles hitherto imported 
free. At the same time Lord Grenville proposed 
the . stamp tax. All pamphlets, newspapers, 
almanacs, all bonds, leases, notes, insurance 
policies — in a word, all papers nsed for legal pur- 
poses — in order to be valid, were to be drawn up 
on stamped paper, purchasable only from King's 
officers appointed for the purpose. The plan met 
with the entire approval of the British Parlia- 
ment, but its enactment was deferred until the 
next year, in order that the colonies might have 
an opportunity to express their feelings on the 
subject. 

This deference to the wishes of the Americans 
was a mere blind, however. The preamble of 
the bill openly avowed the intention of raising 



" GOOD OLD COLONY TIMES." 95 

revenue from " His Majesty's dominion in 
America ;" the act also gave increased power to 
the admiralty courts, and provided more strin- 
gent means for enforcing the payment of duties. 
The colonies received the news of these proposed 
enactments with indignation. The right of Par- 
liament to impose duties and taxes on an unre- 
presented people was denied. In Boston, always 
the seat of democratic sentiment, the protest was 
made in no uncertain tone. New York also ex- 
pressed her feelings strongly. Bven Virginia 
was loud in her disapproval. Nevertheless, the 
bill passed the House of Commons five to one ; 
in the Lords, it met with no opposition whatever. 

The next da}^ Benjamin Franklin, then in 
London, wrote to his friend, Charles Thompson : 
"The sun of liberty is set; you must light the 
candles of industry and economy." " The torches 
we shall light," was the reply, "shall be of quite 
another kind." 

Petitions and memorials were addressed to Par- 
liament, the mild and conciliatory tones of which 
but faintly reflected the ferment and excitement 
in the colonies. An association sprang suddenly 
into existence under the name of " Sons of 
Libert}^," whose special object seemed to be the 
intimidation of the stamp officers. In all the 
colonies the officers were compelled or persuaded 
to resign, and the stamps that arrived were either 
left unpacked or were seized and burned. Reso- 



00 



MY COUNTRY, 'tis OF THEE 



;- 1^ 



lutious were passed to import no more goods 
from Bngland until the Stamp Act was repealed. 
A change in the British ministry now took 
place, and, in spite of opposition, the bill was re- 
pealed. This was done on the ground of expe- 
diency only, and it ^ was soon made evident that 
little had been gained to the colonies. The 
Stamp Act was gone, but the Declaratory Act, 
the Sugar Act, the Mutiny Act — requiring the 




colonists to provide quarters for English troops 
— remained. The project of taxing the Ameri- 
can colonies was by no means relinquished. 
Duties were imposed on paper, glass, painters' 
colors, and tea. A large number of British offi- 
cers were stationed in Boston to enforce the pay- 
ment of these duties. Riots followed, and 
throughout the colonies the greatest indignation 
and excitement prevailed. The British govern- 



*' GOOD OLD COLONY TIMES." 97 

meiit tried vainly to induce the colonists to buy 
their merchandise, but, failing, made one last 
effort by effecting an arrangement with the East 
India Company, by which a quantity of tea was 
shipped to America, to be sold at a price less. 
than had been charged before the duties were im- 
posed. Cargoes were sent to New York, Boston, 
Philadelphia, and Charleston, S. C. The in- 
habitants of New York and Philadelphia sent 
them back to England ; in Charleston the tea 
was stored in cellars, where it finally perished ; 
in Boston men disguised as Indians boarded the 
ships and threw the tea overboard. 

The consequence of this last rash action was 
the passing of the Port Bill, whereby the port of 
Boston was declared closed, and the charter of 
Massachusetts altered materially to abridge the 
liberties of the people. General Gage was sent 
with troops to occupy Boston, which was already 
fully garrisoned with English soldiers. 

In 1774 delegates from eleven colonies met at 
Philadelphia and formed themselves into a Con- 
gress. A declaration of rights was agreed upon, 
and a repeal of the obnoxious measures resolved 
to be necessary to the restoration of harmony be- 
tween Great Britain and America. An address 
was prepared and forwarded to the King and the 
people of Great Britain. Notwithstanding these 
open threats of war, the coercive measures con- 
tinued. The colonies were making preparation 



98 



'' MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE.' 



for defense, and au outbreak was imminent at 
any time. The occasion soon arrived. A quan- 
tity of military stores were housed at Concord, 
eighteen miles from Boston, and General Gage 
sent eight hundred British troops to destroy 
them. At Lexington they met with the first 
protest, in the form of seventy armed men, who 
were ordered to disperse. The order not being 




carpenters' hall. 

obeyed, the British fired, killing eight of the 
colonists and dispersing the rest. At Concord 
another stand was made, but the troops suc- 
ceeded in performing their commission. All the 
country now sprang to arms. A small arni}^ 
appeared in the environs of Boston, further in- 
creased by troops from Connecticut. The forts, 
arsenals, and magazines throughout the colonies 



"good old colony times." 09 

were seized by the Americans ; Crown Point and 
Ticouderoga were taken by Ethan Allen, with 
about two hundred and fifty raw New Hamp- 
shire men, reinforced by Benedict Arnold and a 
small body of Connecticut militia. The battle 
of Bunker's Hill followed. 

The second Continental Congress, which met 
in Philadelphia May loth, 1775, voted to raise 
and equip an army of twenty thousand men, 
and named George Washington as Commander- 
in-Chief. On the 2d of July General Wash- 
ington arrived at Cambridge, and took command 
of the American forces. Two expeditions against 
the British in Canada were organized. One 
under General Montgomery captured Montreal, 
took a large number of prisoners, and secured 
considerable propert3^ The other under Bene- 
dict Arnold marched through Maine and joined 
Montgomery before Quebec. Massachusetts, 
Rhode Island, and Connecticut each armed 
two vessels to operate against the enemy. Con- 
gress also resolved to equip an armament of 
thirteen vessels. Three ships from London, 
Glasgow, and Liverpool were captured, and their 
cargoes of military stores for the British were 
confiscated. 

In the autumn General Gage sailed for Eng- 
land, and the command of the British army 
devolved upon General Howe. Parliament now 
declared the colonies out of royal protection, 



100 " MY COUNTRY, 'tIS OF THEE/' 

and ail army of seventeen thousand mercenaries 
were employed to aid in their subjection. On 
the 7th of June, 1776, a motion was made in Con- 
gress for declaring the colonies free and inde- 
pendent States. The motion was discussed, and 
on the fourth of July approved, by a nearly 
unanimous vote. 

The struggle had now begun in earnest. 
Since his arrival at Cambridge General Wash- 
ington had been engaged in organizing an army 
out of his raw recruits, and in efforts to provide 
them with ammunition and suitable clothing. 
The regular force of Americans in February 
was about fourteen thousand men ; in addition 
to these about six thousand of the Massachusetts 
militia were at the disposal of the Commander- 
in-Chief. With these troops he succeeded in forc- 
ing the British to evacuate Boston. This victory 
was followed by defeat in Canada, the complete 
British possession of New York, and of the 
States of New Jersey and Rhode Island. 
In the spring of 1777 a ship arrived from France 
with upwards of eleven thousand stand of arms 
and one thousand barrels of gunpowder. The 
army was fully provided with arms and ammu- 
nition, and more confidence was felt in the 
chances for success. As the Continental army 
gradually regained possession of New Jersey 
after Washington's victory of Trenton, the de- 
pleted ranks began to fill up, and the fortunes of 



"good old colony times." 101 

the United States never again sank to such a 
low ebb as they had after the British invasion of 
New York. 

About this time several French officers of dis- 
tinction entered the service of the United States, 
among them the Marquis de Lafayette, the Baron 
St. Ovary, and Count Pulaski, the latter a noble 
Pole. They were all of the greatest service to 
the Americans. The most important addition 
to our ranks was that of the Baron Steuben, who 
had been aide-de-camp to Frederick the Great, 
and had served through the Seven Years' War, 
After leaving the Prussian army he had been 
Graiid Marshal of the Court of the Prince of 
Hohenzollern-Hechingen. "The object of my 
greatest ambition," he wrote Washington, " is 
to deserve the title of a citizen of the United 
States by fighting for the cause of your libert3^" 
He added that after serving under the King of 
Prussia, the only man he cared to fight under 
now was General Washington. The Baron w^as 
made Inspector-General of the army, and it was 
due to him largely that the raw forces were 
brought into the discipline necessary to insure 
final victory. Under him the army soon began 
to operate like a great machine. 

The American cause advanced steadily. The 
successive campaigns of i777-'78-'79-'8o, and'Si 
must be epitomized. After the British were 



102 " MY COUNTRY, 'TLS OF THEE." 

driven out of New Jersey they approached 
Philadelphia by Chesapeake Bay. In August 
Sir William Howe marched from the head of Elk 
River in Maryland toward the capital. The 
armies met on the nth of September on the 
Brandy wine River, and the Americans were 
defeated. This gave Philadelphia to the British. 
Another indecisive engagement occurred at Ger- 
mantown shortly afterward. The campaign in 
Pennsylvania now ended and Washington retired 
for winter quarters in Valley Forge. Aleanwhile 
events of importance were taking place in the 
North. General Burgoyne with seven thousand 
British and German troops were defeated at Fort 
Schuyler, at Bennington, and on the plains of 
Saratoga. Burgoyne's army surrendered with 
nearly six thousand men and much military 
property, and again Ticonderoga and the North 
were in the hands of the Americans. This was 
really the turning point of the war. 

France, which had for over a year kept up a 
wavering policy, now entered into a treaty of 
alliance with the United States, in which it was 
agreed that if war should break out between 
France and England during the existence of the 
war in America, it should be made a common 
cause, and that neither of the contracting parties 
should conclude peace with England without 
obtaining formal consent of the other. They 



" GOOD OLD COLONY TIMES." 103 

further agreed not to lay down their arms until 
the independence of the United States should be 
assured by treaty. 

On the alliance of America with France it was 
resolved in England to evacuate Philadelphia 
and concentrate the royal forces in the harbor of 
New York. The only other important advance 
made by the enemy was on the city of Savannah, 
which was captured, with the shipping in the 
river and much ammunition and stores. The 
campaign of 1779 was attended with no important 
results. The town of Charleston, S. C, was 
taken by the British, but not held for au}^ length 
of time. A battle was fought at Savannah in an 
effort to dislodge the British troops at that place, 
which was so disastrous to the Americans that 
the militia, discouraged, retired to their homes, 
and the French fleet left the country. No sooner 
did Sir Henry Clinton receive certain informa- 
tion of the departure of the French allies than 
he sent a large expedition against South Caro- 
lina. In April, 1780, Charleston was sur- 
rounded, and a month later Fort Moultrie sur- 
rendered, thus completing the capture of the 
city. This year also occurred Benedict Arnold's 
treachery and the execution of the gallant 
Andre. 

The military movements of the year 1781 
were principalh'' confined to the South. The 
British were defeated twice in South Carolina, 



I 



104 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THHE." 

which closed the war in that State. In Virgina, 
at Yorktown, the British army under General 
Cornwallis surrendered, which practically de- 
cided the result of the Revolutionary War. 
Commissioners for negotiating peace were now 
appointed by both nations, and on the 30th of 
November, 1782, they agreed on provisional 
articles, which were to be inserted in a future 
treaty of peace, .to be concluded finally when 
peace was established between France and Eng- 
land. On the nth of April, 1783, Congress 
issued a proclamation, declaring a cessation of 
arms on land and sea. The definite treaty of 
peace was signed in Paris on the 3d of Septem- 
ber. On the 25th of November the British 
troops left the city of New York, and on the 
same day the Americans took possession. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE STORY OF THE NATION. 

FOLLOWING the exultation of victory came 
a period of uncertainty and apprehension. 
Financially the country was in a state of utter 
collapse. The result of the war was a foreign debt 
of eight millions, and a domestic debt of thirty 
millions of dollars. The army was unpaid and 
mutinous ; only the tact and energy of Wash- 
ington prevented an outbreak. The Articles of 
Confederation, ratified March ist, 1781, were in- 
sufficient to the emergencies which arose on 
every hand. Congress could obtain no revenue 
except b}^ requisition from the States ; it had no 
power to lay a tax or to enforce payment from the 
States. It had no common executive, and was 
really less a governmental power than a con- 
sulting body. A condition bordering on anarchy 
reigned throughout the States. The legislatures 
of States having seaports taxed the people of 
other States for trading with foreign ports 
through them. Some even taxed imports from 
sister States. All the States neglected the re- 
quisitions of Congress, and New Jersey actually 
refused payment altogether. It was becoming 
alarmingly evident that the central government 
must be strengthened, and new methods of ad- 

105 



106 " MY COUNTRY, 'TLS OF THKK." 

miuistratioii adopted, or the confederacy would 
go to pieces. 

All the States except Rhode Island appointed 
delegates to a general Convention to be held in 
Philadelphia in May, 1787, for the purpose of 
" devising such further provisions as may be 
necessary to render the Federal Constitution 
adequate to the exigencies of the Union." The 
members were the wisest and most honorable 
men in America. The venerable Franklin, now 
eighty-one years of age, George Washington, a 
long list of Revolutionary heroes, and eight 
signers of the Declaration of Independence 
were among the distinguished delegates. The 
Convention was occupied for nearly four months. 
The proceedings were secret ; the journal being 
intrusted to the care of Washington, who de- 
posited it in the State Department. This 
journal was afterward printed. Notes of 
several members were published in 1840, and 
from these we have nearly a complete view of 
the process by which the Constitution was 
formed. 

The antagonisms of the States were many 
and bitter. Chief among them was the slavery 
question. So hot discussions on this point be- 
came that foi a fortnight the Convention M^as 
on the verge of dissolution, and even Wash- 
ington despaired of a favorable issue to the 
proceedings, and almost repented of having had 



THE STORY OF THE NATION. 107 

anything to do with the Convention. At this 
time Franklin made his characteristic speech 
on the wide diversity of opinion, in which he 
said that when a broad table is to be made, 
and the edges of the planks do not fit, the artisan 
takes a little from both and makes a good joint. 
In like manner here, both sides must part with 
some of their (iemands in order to join in an ac- 
commodating position. With the agreement to 
compromise, the work went more rapidly, and on 
the 1 2th of September the completed Constitu- 
tion w^as ordered printed. The signing, and the 
ratification by States of the Constitution followed. 

The first Congress assembled in New York 
on the 4th of March, 1789. Delegates ar- 
rived from all the States excepting Rhode Is- 
land and North Carolina. On opening the votes 
of the electors, it was ascertained that George 
Washington was elected President of the United 
States, and John Adams, having the next 
highest number of votes, was declared Vice- 
President. On the 23d of April the President- 
elect arrived in New York, and on the 30th was 
inaugurated. After a laborious session Congress 
adjourned to meet on the first Monday in Jan- 
uary. 

The national government was received with 
powerful opposition by a considerable proportion 
of voters, and two political parties were thus 
formed at the very outset. The friends of the 



108 " MY COUNTRY, 'tis OF THEE." 

Constitution were called Federalists, and the 
opposing party were styled anti-Federalists. In 
November of this year North Carolina adopted 
the Constitution, and was admitted as a State, 
and Rhode Island followed next year. In 1790 
the location of the Capital was decided upon, 
and its removal to the Potomac designated to 
take place in the year 1800; in the meantime, 
the seat of government was to be established at 
Philadelphia. A census was taken, which showed 
the population of the United States to be 
3,929,326, of vv^hich 695,655 were slaves. In 
1 79 1 the opposition to the Federal party grew 
stronger, when the State debts were assumed by 
Congress, and Hamilton broached the scheme of 
a National bank. Jefferson, who had been first 
Secretary of the State, headed the opposing 
party, who adopted the name of Republicans, 
and denounced the Hamilton party as Monarch- 
ists, and declared against the tendency to cen- 
tralization of power. The Federal party con- 
tinued in the majority, however, and Washing- 
ton and Adams were re-elected in 1792. In the 
elections of 1800 the Republicans were vic- 
torious ; Jefferson became President and Aaron 
Burr Vice-President. The two men received 
an equal number of votes, and Congress had to 
decide between them. For many years the 
" State Rights " Republican-Democratic part^ 
continued in power. 



THE STORY OF THE NATION. 109 

The most important event of the early part of 
the nineteenth century was the purchase of Lou- 
isiana from the French. This enormous terri- 
tory had been lost to England after the French 
and Indian war ; it embraced the whole Mis- 
sissippi Valley, and extended indefinitely west- 
ward. In 1762 it was transferred to Spain, 
although open possession was not given until 
1769. In 1763 Great Britain had obtained, by 
treaty, that portion lying east of the Mississippi. 
In 1783, of course, this came into possession of 
the United States. All the territory west, and 
on the east from the 31st parallel to the Gulf, 
remained in the hands of Spain. The import- 
ance of having the free use of the river as a 
channel of transportation to the sea was early 
felt. This necessity was intensified as settle- 
ments increased and the Spanish authorities 
began to manifest a hostile policy. In 1800 
Spain gave back to France the province of Lou- 
isiana. It was some time before the transaction 
became known, but the moment it was made 
public Jefferson saw that our troubles with France 
were not an end. The day she took possession 
the old friendship, long strained, would come to 
an end, and war seemed near, for in 1802 came 
the news that an expedition was preparing to 
cross to Louisiana. Meanwhile the navigation 
of the river was closed to American citizens ; 
all trade was forbidden them, and the right of 



110 "my country, 'tis of thee." 

deposit at New Orleans was taken away. Pro- 
tected by this right, traders of Kentucky and 
Ohio had been accustomed to float tobacco, flour, 
etc., down the river and store them in ware- 
houses to await the arrival of sloops or scows to 
carry them to their ports. By the treaty of 1795 
some convenient place must always be open for 
these goods, and when New Orleans was closed 
there was no other place. Jefferson's plan was 
to buy so much territory on the east bank of the 
river as would settle forever the question of the 
use of its mouth. Although vigorously opposed 
by the Federalists in Congress, who wished to 
declare war against Spain, Jefferson's proposal 
was acted upon, and James Monroe was sent 
over to act with the ministers to France and 
Spain in the matter of the purchase. Talleyrand 
hindered the matter as much as possible, and 
Livingston finally was obliged to break over the 
bonds of diplomatic etiquette and address him- 
self directly to the First Consul. Napoleon 
agreed to sell, not part but all ; the first price 
asked was one hundred and twenty-five million 
francs, and the final price agreed upon was 
eighty millions. Jefferson, although only au- 
thorized to spend two million dollars, accepted 
the treaty, summoned Congress, and urged it to 
perfect the purchase. Fifteen million dollars 
seemed an enormous sum for the people to 
assume to pay, and the old Federalists fought 



THE STORY OF THE NATION. Ill 

the measure liotl}^, but in tlie end the treaty was 
ratified by Congress. On November loth the 
act creating the eleven million two hundred 
and fift}^ thousand dollars' worth of stock called 
for by the first Convention was passed, and in 
December, 1803, the United States took posses- 
sion of Louisiana. 

The immense territory thus acquired was an 
unexplored and unknown region to the Ameri- 
cans of that day. Only such scraps of informa- 
tion as came from hunters and trappers, and the 
wild tales of the Indians had reached the officials. 
And such tales ! There were Indians of gigantic 
stature ; a mountain of salt one hundred and 
eighty miles in length, all brilliant white in the 
sun, not a tree on it, and saline streams flowing 
from its base. There were prairies too rich for 
anything but grass, soil so fertile that things 
grew for the planting. In 1 804 a part}^ of ex- 
plorers under Lewis and Clark was sent out by 
the government ; they followed the Missouri to 
its source, crossed the mountains to the Pacific, 
and traversed all that region now known as 
Oregon. 

The commerce of America now began to in- 
crease with remarkable rapidit}^ and complica- 
tions arising with other countries obliged the 
United States to protect her commerce by engag- 
ing in two wars, one with Tripoli and one with 
England. France and England were engaged 



112 "my country, 'tis of thee." 

in tiiat mighty struggle which followed the 
events of the French Revolution. Seriously in 
need of men and unable to buy them from the 
German Duchies as she had done in her war 
with the colonies, England began that system 
of impressment of seamen which finally became 
so intolerable that war was necessary. The 
evil was one of long standing. As far back as 
1796 application was made in London for the 
release of two hundred and seventy seamen thus 
seized within a year. The people of the United 
States were roused to a state of indignation. 
Measures for fitting out a suitable naval arma- 
ment were taken, and a policy of aggression 
decided upon. 

The war with Britain, however, was preceded 
by a three years' war with the piratical power of 
Tripoli, which with the other Barbary States of 
North Africa, had for many years made the 
Mediterranean unsafe for commerce. The weaker 
mercantile nations of Europe, after vainly en- 
deavoring to suppress these outrages, had con- 
sented to pay an annual tribute for the security 
of their vessels. The United States did the same 
for a time, but having grown weary of this course 
declared war against Tripoli. The contest 
ended in 1804, ^^^ resulted in the partial sup- 
pression of the piracies. It needed a second 
struggle in 18 15 to induce Algiers and Tunis to 
give up all claims to tribute from the United 



THE StORY OF^ TH^ NATION. 113 

States, and this was accomplished uuder the 
same talented commander who brought the first 
war to a successful close — the gallant Commodore 
Decatur. 

The histor}^ of the second war with Great 
Britain begins, as we have seen, as far back as 
1796. The aggressive acts of that power were 
of a nature that would not be tolerated for a 
single month did they occur in the present da3\ 
An official report made in 181 2 by the Secretary 
of State declared that five hundred and twenty- 
eight American merchantmen had been taken 
by England prior to 1807, and three hundred 
and eighty-nine after that period. The value of 
those vessels and cargoes, estimated at the lowest 
figures, would amount to nearly thirty million 
dollars. An abundant warrant for war, surely ; 
yet the declaration was carried in Congress by 
an astonishingly small majority. The Federal 
party, opposed to all the Jeffersonian measures, 
fought with especial bitterness — and with es- 
pecial justification — the embargo which the ex- 
ecutive had declared and which had really caused 
severe distress to the industrial classes. The 
depression continued throughout the war, and 
the suffering experienced gave strong support to 
the measures of the so-called " Peace Party," who 
threw every obstruction in the way of its suc- 
cessful termination. Altogether it was a war 
for which no adequate provision was made. The 



114 "my country, 'tis of thee." 

navy of the United States was in no condition 
to cope with that of England.; the regular army 
numbered less than seven thousand men, and 
the other requisites of war were as poorly pro- 
vided for. The time, however, was most oppor- 
tune. England was exhausted with her struggle 
with France, which even then was continuing, 
and required most of her attention. Yet so 
miserably was the war managed that the first 
year was a record of disaster to the United States. 
Our naval operations were successful from the 
start, and the striking series of victories at sea 
filled England with astonishment and dismay. 
These successes were followed by similar ones 
on the lakes, where two of the most notable bat- 
tles of the war were won. In 1814 the British 
took possession of Washington, burned the 
Capitol, the President's house, the public offices, 
the navy yard and arsenal, and the bridge over 
the Potomac. They were repulsed by the Ameri- 
cans a few days later and forced to leave the 
Chesapeake. The British fleet then sailed south, 
and in December appeared before New Orleans. 
The gallant defense made by Jackson lasted 
nearly a month and resulted in victory for the 
United States. Before the first gun was fired 
the treaty of peace had been signed, but word 
did not reach the combatants in the South until 
February. 

The treaty settled certain questions of bound- 



THE STORY OF THE NATION. 115 

ary, of fisheries, and provided the abolishment 
of naval forces on the lakes. On the subject of 
impressment it was silent, as it could very well 
have been, since America had amply proved her 
ability to defend her commerce and her citizens 
in any future difficulty. 

The best result of the war was the rapid in- 
crease of American manufactories, caused by the 
impossibility, during the blockade, of obtaining 
goods from abroad. After the blockade was 
raised many of these manufactories were ruined, 
in consequence of the sudden influx of foreign 
goods, but the impetus given had been a healthy 
one, and home industries had received a start, at 
least. Agricultural products greatly increased 
in value, land and labor rose in proportion, and 
the shipping interests of the country grew more 
prosperous than ever. X)uring this period there 
was evinced a growing tendency to the division 
of the countrj^ into a Northern and a Southern 
section. In the one, free labor and advancing 
commercial and manufacturing interests created 
one set of conditions, while in the South, slave 
labor and developing agricultural wealth induced 
quite another. With the invention of the cotton- 
gin, in 1 791, cotton quickly rose to a prominent 
position among American industries. Slave 
labor, which had been growing undesirable, now 
became of high value, and the slaves in the 
country increased from 657,047 in 1790 to — in 



116 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

round numbers — 1,600,000 in 1820. By this 
time slavery had almost vanished from the 
North, and the industrial interests of the country 
were becoming so widely different that the char- 
acter of the people could not avoid suffering pro- 
portionate changes. In the North industry was 
commended above all things, and the worker was 
the peer of any man — theoretically speaking. 
In the South labor was looked down upon, and 
the planter gave himself up to social pleasures, 
even leaving the overseeing of his estate in the 
hands of an agent. While the tendency in the 
North was the breaking down of all class dis- 
tinction, the South was becoming more and more 
of an aristocracy. This diversity of conditions 
was destined to increase with time, until its final 
outcome was most inevitably war for the pres- 
ervation of those principles of freedom and 
democracy, on which the Union was founded, 
and on which its existence depends. 

During this period, also, the West was filling 
up with remarkable rapidity. State after State 
was admitted, until, by 1820, the original thir- 
teen were increased to twenty-four. All the 
States east of the Mississippi were admitted by 
this time, and west of the river were Missouri 
and Louisiana. It was a very rude population 
that filled the frontier. Refugees from all the 
Eastern States fled to escape justice, and finally 
formed the majority of the inhabitants. For 



THE STORY OF THE NATION. 117 

many years villainy reigned supreme, but the 
invading march of civilization gradually intro- 
duced a better element, and the West offered a 
less attractive harbor to the unregenerate. 

Allusion must be made to the invasion of 
Florida by General Jackson in 1818. From 18 12 
difiiculties had existed with the Seminole In- 
dians, while many fugitive slaves fled to the 
northern part of the State and amalgamated with 
the savages. These negroes settled on the 
Appalachicola River, and, furnished with arms 
by the British, defied the American authorities. 
Their stronghold was destroyed by General 
Clinch in 1816, but annoyance from the Semi- 
noles continued. In 1818 General Jackson in- 
vaded Florida, destroyed the Indian towns, and 
took possession of the town of Pensacola and the 
Spanish fort of St. Mark's. The controversy 
thus provoked with Spain resulted in the cession 
of the whole of Florida to the United States, 
February 2 2d, 18 19. 

The political state of the country from 181 6 
to 1820, during Monroe's administration, was 
peculiar in that only one political party existed 
— a condition of affairs never witnessed before 
or since. This was known as " the era of good 
feeling." Industrially, however, it was an era 
of great depression. The prosperity which fol- 
lowed the war of 181 2 had vanished, and the 
natural revulsion from abnormally high prices 



118 "my country, 'tis ok thee." 

had come. The banks suspended specie pay- 
ments and gold and silver disappeared. The 
Bank of the United States was in a demoralized 
condition, and ruin and bankruptcy prevailed 
everywhere. From this distress it took several 
years for the United States to recover. A nota- 
ble feature of the time was the consideration in 
Congress of the problem of internal improve- 
ments. Large appropriations were made for a 
canal route across Florida, for a national road 
from Cumberland, Maryland, to Ohio, etc. The 
greatest enterprise was the Erie Canal, built by 
the State of New York at a cost of ten millions 
of dollars. Among other events worthy of 
mention was the founding of the Anti-Slavery 
Association in 1815, the formation of the first 
savings bank in Philadelphia, the founding of 
colleges and universities in almost every State 
in the Union, and the crossing of the first ocean 
steamship. 

The history of this period must not be 
closed without allusion to the famous " Monroe 
Doctrine." America had long held itself 
aloof from interference in European affairs, but 
until now she had never asserted her determina- 
tion not to be interfered with. In Monroe's 
message of 1823, occurs the passage which, 
although it never received of&cial sanction from 
Congress, immediately became a fixed and un- 
alterable part of our national policy : that any 



THE STORY OF THE NATION. 119 

attempt to extend foreign systems of govern- 
ment to any part of this liemisphere is declared 
dangerous to our peace and safety, and shall be 
taken as a manifestation of an unfriendly dispo- 
sition toward the United States. 

In 1 819 occurred the exciting controversy 
known as the " Missouri Compromise," which 
settled one phase of the slavery question, and 
paved the way for its final solution. When 
Missouri applied for admission as a State, the 
House of Representatives voted to make that 
admission conditional on the prohibition of the 
further introduction of slaves, and the emanci- 
pation of all slave children born after the ad- 
mission, as soon as they reached the age of 
twenty-five. The Senate, however, rejected this 
condition, and Congress adjourned without com- 
ing to any final decision. All during the next 
session the question was fought, until in the 
night between the 2d and 3d of March, 1820, 
the State was admitted on a compromise. 
Slavery was permitted in its territory, but for- 
ever interdicted in the territor}^, except Missouri, 
lying north of thirty-six degrees, thirty minutes 
north latitude. If the latter had affected Mis- 
souri alone it would have been comparativel}^ in- 
significant, but there were two great principles 
involved which bore upon the welfare of the 
entire nation. These were the questions of 
slavery and of State sovereignty as opposed 



120 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

to United States supremacy. The result of the 
Compromise was that the country was divided 
upon a fixed geographical basis into free and 
slave sections. Each of the two groups con- 
solidated more and more, and the antagonism 
between the North and South inevitably in- 
creased. 

In 1835 ^^ event took place which was destined 
ultimately to be of great interest to the United 
States. This was the revolution in Texas, then 
a province of Central America. A Declaration 
of Independence was made on the 2d of March, 
1836 ; on March 6th the famous massacre of the 
Alamo occurred, and two weeks later the battle 
of San Jacinto, in which the Mexican forces 
were beaten, and the President, Santa Anna, 
taken prisoner. As a condition to his release 
the Mexican troops left the countr}^, and hos- 
tilities ceased. The independence of Texas 
was soon acknowledged by the United States and 
Europe, and in 1845, at its own request, the new 
republic became a State of the American Union. 
]\Iexico, which had never acknowledged the in- 
dependence of Texas, resented the action of the 
United States, and the following year collisions 
took place between the two countries on the Rio 
Grande. Two very deadly conflicts, one at Palo 
Alto and the other at Resaca de la Palma, could 
only result in a declaration of war on the part 
of our government. The army, under General 



THE STORY OF THE NATION. 121 

Taylor, proceeded at once to Palo Alto, where 
the Mexicans were defeated on the 8th of May. 
In September Taylor took Monterey. Another 
army under General Kearney had succeeded in 
occuping New Mexico, and after establishing a 
civil government, marched on to California to 
the assistance of Commodore Stockton and 
Captain Fremont. The war ended with victory 
for the Americans in September of the next 
year. It had been an unbroken series of suc- 
cesses for the United States. The treaty of 
peace was signed on the 2d of February, 1848; 
under its provisions Upper California and New 
Mexico were surrendered by Mexico, which in 
turn w^as granted all its conquered territory, 
with fifteen million dollars. 

The same year that witnessed our accession 
of California proved the existence of gold in 
great abundance throughout a vast region of 
country, and in a few months' time thousands 
of treasure seekers were already at work washing 
fortunes out of the sands. The history of the 
" Gold Rush " to California in the autumn of 
1848 and all during the next few years is one 
of unique and most absorbing interest. The 
scenes to which it gave rise are unparalleled in 
the story of any other country, unless we except 
Australia. A short period serv^ed to exhaust the 
" placer " minings of California and more expen- 
sive methods had to be resorted to. The hydraulic 



122 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

process was invented in 1852 ; quartz mining 
also came into vogue. Rich silver deposits were 
discovered in Colorado and Nevada, and although 
the era of individual fortune hunting was past, 
an immense amount of wealth still remained in 
the rocks of the new country, and emigration 
proceeded with unexampled energy. Not only 
was the Pacific Slope found rich in gold, but in 
forests, and above all in agricultural facilities. 
With all these inducements on the coast, came 
the discovery of the wealth in the intervening 
prairie lands, and the great West began to fill 
up, until in forty-three years it has become the 
home of the boldest and most promising popula- 
tion within the United States' limits. State after 
State has been admitted, railroads and telegraphs 
have been built across the continent, and an 
immense and flourishing domain has been added 
to the nation. 

The next phase of American history which, in 
a recital of only the important events of national 
growth, must claim attention, is the development 
of Abolitionism. The slaver}^ question was not 
buried after the passage of the Missouri Com- 
promise Bill, as its supporters had promised and 
believed. The doctrine of abolition was first 
openly advocated by William Ivlo3'd Garrison in 
his newspaper. The Liberator^ issued January 
ist, 1 83 1. Anti-Slavery societies were formed 
soon afterward, but they met with such violent 



THE STORY OF THE NATION. 123 

Opposition in the North that they were forced to 
cease their meetings. The political strength of 
the idea was not manifested until 1844, when the 
candidate of the " Liberty " party made Polk 
President of the United States. It was, however, 
the close of the Mexican War and the subseqnent 
large addition of property that brought the 
question into prominence before Congress. In 
the discussion of the treaty of Mexico, David 
Wilmot, of Pennsylvania, proposed to add to the 
appropriation bill the clause that slavery should 
be prohibited in any territory which might be 
acquired as a consequence of the war. Although 
the " Wilmot Proviso " was rejected, it was re- 
ceived with warmest approbation throughout the 
Northv 

The Anti-Slavery faction, organized in 1848, 
under the name of " the Free Soil Party," and 
in the ensuing election returned its candidate, 
Martin Van Buren, to the Presidency, sent 
Salmon P. Chase and Charles Sumner to the 
Senate, and a large number of its friends to the 
House of Representatives. The rapid settle- 
ment of the West added to the complication. 
California and Oregon in their territorial organi- 
zation excluded slavery, and the former applied 
for admission as a State on an Anti-Slavery 
basis. A fierce debate followed in Congress, the 
Southern representatives insisting on the organi- 
zation of California, Oregon, Utah, and New 



124 *' MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

Mexico without slavery restrictions. The Free 
Soil party demanded, not only the admission of 
California, but the organization of the other 
territories with slavery absolutely prohibited. 
The dispute ended in a compromise, proposed by 
Henry Clay, in which California was admitted 
as a free State, no restriction enforced in Utah 
or New Mexico, and slavery prohibited in the 
District of Columbia, and provisions made for the 
return of fugitive slaves from all Northern States. 
The compromise was so agreeable to the 
majority of the people that for a time the Anti- 
Slavery agitation was greatly decreased. 

In 1855 the Free Soil party was absorbed into 
the Republican party, destined to attain such 
power in later days. It was the clause relat- 
ing to fugitive slaves which renewed the aboli- 
tion sentiment in the North. For years previous 
to this time escaped slaves had found plenty of 
friends among the Northerners to help them to 
Canada, and in time the organization for aid and 
secretion of fugitive blacks became more com- 
plete, and very few slaves who succeeded in 
crossing the border line were ever recovered by 
their masters. Massachusetts even passed a law 
to secure fugitive slaves trial by jur}^, and 
Pennsylvania passed a law against kidnapping. 
A decision was finally made in the Supreme 
Court which gave to the owners of a slave the 
right to recapture him without process of law, 



THE STORY OF THE NATION. 125 

but this availed little against the growing senti- 
ment against all slavery. In 1850 a Fugitive 
Slave law was passed which was so unjust in its 
measures that it left little hindrance to the kid- 
napping of free negroes to be held as slaves in 
the South. This law aroused the greatest indig- 
nation, and backed up the Abolitionists with a 
crowd of ardent sympathizers, where previously 
they had been regarded as wild radicals. In 
December, 1853, the Territory of Nebraska was 
proposed for organization. An amendment to 
the bill was offered which should abrogate the 
Missouri Compromise and permit the citizens of 
the Southern States to take and hold their slaves 
within any of the new Territories or States. 
The bill was reported back from the committee, 
modified to propose the formation of two terri- 
tories, Kansas and Nebraska. At the end of a 
contest lasting four months, the bill was carried, 
with the measure which had been in existence 
for thirty-five years nullified and the whole terri- 
tory from the Mississippi River to the Rocky 
Mountains thrown open to slavery. In 1857 the 
South gained a new victory when the Missouri 
Compromise was declared unconstitutional in 
the highest tribunal in the land. The Abolition 
party was now very greatly strengthened in the 
North, and before the slavery agitation, all other 
questions of public policy were subordinate. A 
re-organization of parties became necessarj^ ; 



126 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

the Democrats divided into two sections, and the 
Free Soilers and a section of the Democrats and 
the old Whigs fused to form the Republican 
party. 

The first hostilities resulting in bloodshed 
appeared in Kansas. An organized effort had 
been made by the anti-slavery societies of the 
North to secure Kansas by colonizing her with 
Abolitionists. Missouri made a corresponding 
effort to secure it to slavery, but rather by vio- 
lence than colonization. An armed band of two 
hundred and fifty Missourians marched upon the 
new town of Lawrence and ordered its settlers to 
leave the territory. The settlers refused, and 
their assailants retired ; but this battle of words 
was followed by a series of more serious assaults. 
An election for a Territorial legislature was 
ordered in 1855. The slave-holders of Missouri 
and Arkansas entered the Territory in large 
bands, took possession of the polls, and, driving 
the actual settlers away, cast their votes for the 
Pro-Slavery candidates. This fraudulent opera- 
tion was ignored by Congress, and the proceed- 
ings of the Pro-Slavery legislature were indorsed. 
But the Free State settlers were too many to be 
dealt with thus, and in 1859 they held another 
convention, elected their candidates, and adopted 
a new Constitution, in which slavery was pro- 
hibited. 

These violent methods of leHslation were car- 



THE STORY OF THE NATION. 127 

ried to Congress, where, in 1856, Charles Sum- 
ner was brutally assaulted by Preston S. Brooks, 
of South Carolina, after the delivery of the 
speech on " The Crime Against Kansas " by the 
former. This occurrence added to the bitterness 
of party spirit, and had its share in arousing the 
fanatical outbreak of John Brown at Harper's 
Ferry. On the approach of the elections of i860 
the hot-headed leaders of Southern politics, 
rather than accept the moderate views of the 
Northern section of their party, chose to divide 
their ranks, thus insuring the election of a 
Northern candidate. When the Republicans 
nominated Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois, whose 
record on the question was embraced in one sen- 
tence of a recent speech, " I believe this govern- 
ment cannot permanently endure half slave and 
half free," the issue w^as for the first time clearly 
defined in a political contest. For ten years the 
threat of secession had been openly made in 
Congress, M-henever any Pro-Slavery measure 
was strongly opposed, but now it became more 
than a threat ; it -was a menace. Lincoln must 
have been elected, even if the issue had been less 
vital, and his successful candidacy Avas rather 
desired than dreaded in the South. Secession 
had been determined upon in South Carolina, 
and tlie " fire-eaters " of the South were delighted 
at what the}^ deemed a direct provocation. 

In December, i860. South Carolina passed an 



128 '^ MY COUNTRY, 'tis OF THEE.*' 

ordinance of secession, and set up an inde- 
pendent government. Georgia, Florida, Ala- 
bama, Texas, Mississippi, and Louisiana fol- 
lowed ; the Northern range of slave States 
waited until war had actually broken out. 

The Southern element still had possession of 
Congress, and there was no fear of interference 
until after Lincoln's inauguration ; the seizure 
of the United States forts and arsenals in the 
seceding States was therefore accomplished with- 
out opposition. 

It was not until April that an}^ decisive action 
was taken by the new administration. Even 
the fact that a convention had been held at 
Montgomery, Alabama, a Constitution adopted, 
and a President elected of the Confederated South- 
ern States had received no active opposition ; but 
when Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor was 
beleaguered by a Confederate force, preparations 
were made to relieve it at once, thus deciding 
the question of war. Early in April a fleet 
sailed southward and took possession of the fort. 
As soon as it became known in Charleston, hos- 
tilities were determined upon unless Major 
Anderson, the Federal commander, at once 
evacuated the fort. He refused, and on the 12th 
day of April, 1861, at the hour of five A. m., the 
first gun was fired which announced the begin- 
ning of the greatest civil war in history. 

Of this war we shall not attempt to give a 



THE STORY OF THE NATION. 129 

detailed account, but shall merely pass in rapid 
review over tlie most important events, giving a 
general outline of the basis on which it was 
fought. The reduction of Fort Sumter was fol- 
lowed by a call from President Lincoln for 
seventy-five thousand volunteers, which were 
quickly furnished. Yet the valuable nav}^ yard 
at Norfolk fell into the hands of the Confederates, 
and the capture of Washington was only averted 
by a hasty movement of the troops. The first 
situation was a little complex ; there was in 
effect a double war — one in Virginia and the 
country north of it, the other in the States bor- 
dering the Mississippi River on the east. There 
were minor fields of campaigning west of the 
river^ and along the coast where the blockade 
proved useful in isolating the South from foreign 
countries. 

The seceding States having chosen Jefferson 
Davis as President, made Richmond, Virginia, 
their capital, and the two capitals — Richmond 
and Washington — were the points between which 
the war in Virginia raged during the entire 
four years, and the fury with which these cities 
were alternately assailed and defended went far 
toward exhausting the warring sections of the 
country. In the West and along the Mississippi 
the line of battle went southward, while a cor- 
■ responding movement pushed toward the north 
from the enemy's country along the river until 



130 " MY COUNTRY, VlS OF TPIEE." 

tlie two armies met and thus gave the Mississippi 
to the United States again. After this achieve- 
ment the two fields of war began to combine in 
one, and the Western arni}^, marching into the 
Atlantic States, pushed on to aid Grant in the 
final struggle. 

The war began in earnest, when General Mc- 
Dowell with twenty-eight thousand men, ad- 
vanced against General Beauregard, who was en- 
trenced behind the small stream of Bull Run, 
south of Washington. Both armies were com- 
posed of undisciplined men. The fighting was 
severe on both sides, and it was only when 
Beauregard was reinforced by Johnston's forces 
that the tide of war turned in favor of the 
Southern army. The National troops became 
demoralized, and the bulk of them fled from the 
field in disorder. This defeat greatly startled 
and alarmed the North. It was seen that a 
gigantic struggle with a most potent and 
determined foe was at hand, and preparations 
were made to meet it. State militia regiments 
were mustered into the National army " for 
three years or the war," and General George B. 
McClellan was put in command. The remainder 
of 1861 was spent in drilling and equipment of 
troops, etc., with the exception of a battle at 
Ball's Bluff, in which the Confederates were 
again victorious. 

In the spring of 1862, General McClellan be- 



THE STOYY OF THE NATION. 131 

gan active work. His plans were most elabo- 
rately drawn and carefully matured. It was the 
campaign of an engineer, rather than of a fight- 
ing soldier. He moved toward Richmond with 
the bulk of his army by way of the James 
River Peninsula, while General McDowell ad- 
vanced from Fredericksburg, and Banks and 
Fremont moved down the Shenandoah Valley. 
The last two commanders were met and beaten 
completely by General Thomas J. Jackson, best 
known as " Stonewall." McDowell was held 
back to defend Washington. So McClellan and 
his army went on alone. He wasted some time 
in besieging Yorktown ; and fought the battles 
of Williamsburg, May 5th, and Seven Pines 
May 31st, the latter being within six miles of 
Richmond. At Seven Pines the Confederate 
General, J. H. Johnston, was seriously wounded, 
and Robert E. Lee succeeded him as leader of 
the Southern hosts. 

" Stonewall " Jackson having beaten Banks 
and Fremont in the Valley, now came down and 
joined Lee, and McClellan was driven back to 
Harrison's Landing on the James River. Dur- 
ing this retreat, the battles of Gaines's Mills, 
Savage Station, Glendale, and Malvern Hill 
were fought, from June 25th to July ist, all 
desperate and bloody. Malvern Hill M-as a Titanic 
conflict, and in it the National army was vic- 
torious. But McClellan, instead of following 



132 '' MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

up liis advantage, continued liis retreat. He 
was constantly clamoring for reinforcements, 
and blamed the Government at Washington for 
his inability to whip the enemy. On August 
29tli and 30th the National forces under 
General Pope were vanquished at Bull Run, 
and soon after General Lee captured Harper's 
Ferry, and crossed the Potomac into Maryland. 
McClellan met him on September 17th at An- 
tietam, and defeated him in a bloody battle. 
Lee fell back, and McClellan did not pursue 
him. 

The President had long been dissatisfied with 
the policy pursued by McClellan, who apparently 
was a victim to over-cautiousness. General Burn- 
side was therefore put in his place, as Com- 
mander of the Army of the Potomac. He 
proved as rash as McClellan had been cautious, 
and the results of his rashness were disastrous. 
On December 13th he fought at Fredericksburg 
a bloody but fruitless battle ; and soon thereafter 
he was superseded in command by General 
Joseph Hooker. That commander was also in- 
cautious, and was commonly known as " Fighting 
Joe " Hooker, from his supposed brilliancy and 
courage in battle. He led the army against the 
Confederates at Chancellorsville, IMay ist and 
3d, '1863, and was terribly beaten. It was one 
of the worst defeats sustained by the Union arms 
in the whole war. 



THE STORY OF THE NATION. 133 

Now the Southern armies, flushed with vic- 
tory, took the aggressive and invaded the North. 
They swept across Maryland and entered Penn- 
sylvania, no effective opposition being offered. 
Hooker and his army started after them, but in 
the last week of June Hooker was removed from 
command, and General George Gordon Meade 
was put in his place. That wise and capable 
leader hurried the Union arm 3^ northward, and 
on July ist confronted Lee at Gettysburg. 
There, on July ist, 2d, and 3d, was fought the 
greatest battle of the war, and one of the most 
important in human history. It cannot be de- 
scribed in detail here, but it resulted in the com- 
plete discomfiture of the Confederates, who 
retreated with all possible haste back to Vir- 
ginia, and never sought to invade the North 
again. General Meade followed them, but was 
unable to overtake and capture them. During 
the remainder of that 3'ear Aleade made two 
attempts upon Richmond, but without important 
results. Thus matters stood in Virginia at the 
beginning of 1864, when a new factor appeared 
upon the scene, before dwelling upon which 
some events elsewhere must be recounted. 

Attacks had been made, up to this time, upon 
the Confederates along the coast b}^ several ex- 
peditions. General T. W. Sherman and Com- 
modore Du Pont had occupied Beaufort in 
November, 1861. Early in 1862 General Burn- 



134 "my country, 'tIvS of thee" 

side had taken Roanoke Island and Newberne. 
In the West, beyond the Mississippi, there had 
been much fighting, especiaHy in Arkansas, and 
the National arms had been generally successful. 
On the water, also, the National fleets were 
supreme. At no time had the Confederates a 
fleet able to hold its own at sea. They had a 
number of fast cruisers, fitted out in England, 
which roamed the ocean as freebooters, preying 
upon American commerce. The most notable of 
these was the " Alabama," which was finally de- 
stroyed oif Cherbourg, France, by the "Kearsarge," 
in June, 1864. They had also a number of power- 
ful rams and ironclad gunboats, for coast and har- 
bor defense. Most famous of these was the "Mer- 
rimack," which, in Hampton Roads, destroyed 
the great frigates "Congress" and "Cumberland," 
and bade fair to deal likewise with the whole 
Union fleet. Opportunel}'-, the little ironclad 
'' Monitor," just built by John Ericsson, appeared 
upon the scene, gave battle, and vanquished the 
monster " Merrimack." This M^as one of the 
epoch-making naval battles of the world. It not 
only saved the whole Union fleet, and perhaps 
many Northern seaport cities from destruction. 
At a single stroke it revolutionized naval archi- 
tecture and naval warfare. The great wooden 
frigates were instantly made things of the past ; 
thenceforth the typical war-ship was a heavily 
armored iron and steel machine, carrying only a 



THE STORY OF THE NATION. 135 

few guns in revolving turrets, or in heavy iron 
casemates. 

But the greatest of the operations leading 
down to 1864 were in the West Central States. 
At the beginning of 1862 the National com- 
manders set out to regain possession of the Mis- 
sissippi River. In January General Thomas 
defeated the Confederates at Mill Spring. In 
February Commodore Foote reduced Fort Henry, 
on the Tennessee River. A few days later 
General U. S. Grant, after most severe fighting, 
captured Fort Donelson and its garrison of 
15,000 Confederate troops. This was the first 
really great Union victory, and Grant at once 
became a dominant figure in the drama of civil 
war. Other operations followed, by which the 
Confederates were driven out of Kentucky, and 
largely out of Tennessee. In April General 
Pope and Commodore Foote captured Island 
No. 10, with 7,000 Confederates, thus clearing 
the Mississippi down to Memphis. Early in 
April a great two days' battle was fought at 
Pittsburg Landing, on the Tennessee River, 
Generals Grant and W. T. Sherman command- 
ing the National army, and A. S. Johnston and 
G. P. T. Beauregard the Confederates. On the 
first day the Confederates w^ere successful, but 
on the second the National army rallied, re- 
gained its ground, and drove the foe before it in 
one of the bloodiest conflicts of the war. Gen- 



136 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

eral A. S. Joliuston was killed — an irreparable 
loss to tHe Southern cause. 

The Union armies now moved southward into 
Alabama and Mississippi. Barly in 1863 they 
gathered about Vicksburg, the " Gibraltar of the 
South," the only important obstacle to the re- 
opening of the Mississippi. Admiral Porter co- 
operated with his fleet. A long siege, marked 
by many desperate engagements, followed, ending 
with the surrender of Vicksburg, with 27,000 
men to General Grant. This occurred on July 
3d, at the very time when Meade was putting 
Lee to rout at Gettysburg. A few days later 
Port Hudson surrendered to General Banks ; 
Admiral Farragut, in a naval conflict of surpass- 
ing splendor, had already captured New Orleans ; 
and thus the entire Mississippi was regained b}'- 
the National authorities. Later, a great reverse 
was suffered. General Rosecrans was terribly 
beaten by the Confederates at Chickamauga, and 
driven into Chattanooo-a, where he was besieeed. 
This was on September 19th and 20th. But 
Grant was now free to turn his attention thither, 
and he quickly drove the Confederates away 
from Chattanooga southward into Georgia. 

Thus we come to the opening of 1864. General 
Grant's brilliant successes in the West led the 
President to call him to the East, M'hen he was 
made commander of all the National armies. 
Sherman w^as left in the West to command 



THE STORY OK THE NATION. 137 

there, under Grant's direction. These two illus- 
trious commanders matured their plans together, 
and simultaneously, early in Ma}^, moved forward 
on the greatest campaign of the war. Sherman 
marched from Chattanooga southward, against 
the able Confederate General J. E. Johnston. 
Desperate battles were fought at Kenesaw Moun- 
tain and elsewhere, but Sherman was irresisti- 
ble. In August the war raged about Atlanta, 
and at the beginning of September that most 
important city fell into Sherman's hands. The 
Confederate President, who hated Johnston, had 
foolishly removed him from command and put 
Hood in his place. The latter was a brave and 
gallant soldier, but was not — as he himself well 
knew — the equal of Johnston as a commander, 
and this change did the Confederates much harm. 
Despairing of checking Sherman, Hood sought 
to make a diversion by marching northward 
into Tennessee. He fought the battle of Frank- 
lin, where there was some of the most dreadful 
carnage of the war, and besieged Nashville. 
Sherman sent General Thomas thither, and he 
gave Hood battle. The slaughter was terrific, 
and at the day's end Hood's army was all but 
annihilated. This was on December 15th. Sher- 
man, meantime, cutting loose from his base of 
supplies, and severing all communications with 
the North, had set out with 60,000 troops for his 
famous " March to the 3ea," He made his way 



138 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OP^ THEE." 

almost unopposed across Georgia, from Atlanta 
to Savannah, capturing the latter city, with vast 
stores, on December 21st. Thence he made his 
way northward through the Carolinas to co- 
operate with Grant in Virginia. 

In the meantime Grant had begun his cam- 
paign with the awful battles in the Wilderness, 
May 5th and 6th ; at Spottsylvania, May 8th- 
i8th ; at North Anna, and at Cold Harbor. The 
losses on both sides in these engagements were 
terrific. But the National army was readily 
reinforced b}'- recruits, while the Confederates 
had no more supplies to draw upon. Grant 
therefore determined to press the fighting, and 
simply exhaust the enemy. A long struggle 
followed at Petersburg, south of Richmond. 
Finding himself steadily losing, Lee sought in 
his desperation to make a favorable diversion by 
sending his Lieutenant Early northward, up the 
Shenandoah Valley, into Maryland, and against 
Washington itself. At first Early was success- 
ful, and almost captured Washington. Then 
Grant sent General Philip H. Sheridan against 
him, and in two or three battles Early was utterly 
routed, the final engagement being the famous 
battle of Cedar Creek, on October 19th. 

The year 1865 opened with the National arms 
everywhere victorious. The war was now concen- 
trated in Southern Virginia. The Confederates 
abandoned Richmond, and Lee strove to make 



THK STORY OF THE NATION. 139 

his way southward, to join J. E. Johnston in 
North Carolina. Grant and Sheridan headed him 
off, however, and he was compelled to surrender at 
Appomattox Court House, on April 9th. The 
surrender of Johnston to Sherman followed on 
April 26th. General Grant treated his prisoners 
Avith the most marked generosit}", bidding them 
keep their horses, which, he said, they would 
need for the spring work on their farms. And 
thus the Titanic conflict was practically ended. 
The other engagements that should be mentioned 
were the great battle in Mobile Bay in August, 
1864, when Admiral Farragut destroyed the 
Confederate forts and fleet, and the capture of 
Fort Fisher by General Terry in Januar}^, 1865. 
Jefferson Davis was captured and held as a 
prisoner for some time, but was finally released 
and permitted to enjoy a life of liberty and pros- 
perity in the country he had striven to disrupt. 
On April 14th, 1865, Pi'esident Lincoln was 
murdered by a member of a desperate band of 
Confederate conspirators, and the nation was 
plunged into mourning. 

Constitutional amendments, forever prohibit- 
ing slavery, and extending citizenship to the 
negroes, were adopted, the States lately in 
rebellion were " reconstructed," and the restored 
and reunited nation resumed the career of pros- 
perity that had been so rudely interrupted. 

The events since the close of the war must be 



140 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

ouly briefly alluded to. Within tlie space of 
twenty-seven years many important occurrences 
have been recorded. The effect of the great 
struggle was on the whole good. The two great 
disturbing questions which from the signing of 
the Constitution until 1861 divided the country, 
were now settled forever. Slavery was abolished ; 
the most bitter source of sectional dispute. 
The doctrine of State rights was also laid at 
rest. Another benefit of the conflict was the 
national banking system. The finances of the 
country were placed on a more secure basis than 
ever before. The period of reconstruction was a 
painful one, of course, but in the end both 
sections of the United States found themselves 
stronger and better than ever before. Andrew 
Johnson, on becoming President, after the 
murder of Lincoln, took measures of which 
Congress disapproved, and a bitter strife began 
which lasted all during the administration. 
The President declared at the outset that as a 
State could not secede, none of the Southern 
States had been out of the Union at all. This 
doctrine was ignored by Congress, which held 
that the seceding States were still out of the 
Union and could only be re-admitted on such 
terms as Congress should prescribe. The Civil 
Rights Bill, which made the negroes citizens of 
the United States, was passed in 1866, and shortly 
afterward the fourteenth Amendment to the 



THE STORY OF THE NATION. 141 

Constitution was adopted. The breacli between 
the President and Congress grew wider ; bill 
after bill was passed over his veto, and in 1868 
the House passed a resolution to impeach the 
President for " high crimes and misdemeanors " 
in the conduct of his ofi&ce. The immediate 
provocation was the removal of Secretary Stan- 
ton, which proceeding was in contravention of 
the Tenure of Office Act, which provided that 
no removal from of&ce should be made without 
consent of the Senate. The impeachment trial 
continued until May, when the final vote was 
taken, and it lacked the necessary two-thirds 
majority to impeach. 

In pursuance of the '' Military Act," the South 
in 1867 was divided into five districts and placed 
under military governors. This exclusion of 
the better class of Southern citizens from civil 
duties placed all power in the hands of an 
inferior class of Northern men (called in the 
South " Carpet-baggers "), who had come hither 
after the war in search of position. The actions 
of these men did little to restore harmony 
between the sections. The situation was not 
improved by the existence of a body of South- 
ern reprobates who called themselves the " Ku 
Klux Klan," and rode about in disguise, doing 
acts of violence against the negroes and all who 
sympathized with them. This state of affairs 
was brought to a gradual change by the accept- 



142 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

ance of the terms proposed by Congress. In 
1868 a pardon was extended to all who had 
engaged in the war, except those who were 
indicted for criminal offenses ; in 1870 the last 
of the States accepted the fourteenth and 
fifteenth amendments, and with their admission 
to Congress the problem of reconstruction was 
solved and the country resumed its normal con- 
dition. 

Many other questions have since arisen, but 
until they too are finally disposed of the}^ can 
not properly take a place in history. Among 
these, the labor question, the temperance agita- 
tion, woman suffrage, the tariff, civil service 
reform, railroad and land monopoly, and the 
Indian troubles are evidence enough that the 
public mind is not at rest. The Indian problem, 
it is hoped, is nearing solution. It is unquestion- 
able that they have been treated with great in- 
justice and it remains now for the United States 
to pursue the educating and civilizing policy 
which it was so late in assuming, but which has 
proved so satisfactory in its results. 

In 1868 General Grant was elected President, 
in which office he continued eight years. Dur- 
ing his administration the Union Pacific Rail- 
road was completed, thus connecting the two 
oceans. The first successful ocean telegraph 
was completed in 1866. 

The most disastrous event of the period was 



THE vSTORY OF THE NATION. 143 

the Chicago fire, which broke out October 8th, 
1871, and destro3^ed an area of buildings extend- 
ing over a length of four miles. One hundred 
thousand people were left homeless, and two 
hundred people perished. Contributions to the 
amount of seven million dollars poured in, and 
almost without delay the process of re-building 
commenced. In a few years scarcely a trace of 
the disaster remained, and so rapid was the city's 
new growth, that what in 1871 had been a 
ruined heap of ashes, in 1890 was found to be 
the second city in the United States. 

The second term of Grant's Presidency was 
marked with violent political agitation. The 
" Credit Mobilier " scheme to bribe certain mem- 
bers of Congress in favor of the Pacific Railroad 
Company was exposed ; Secretary Belknap was 
impeached by Congress for fraud, but was ac- 
quitted; other exposures still further shook 
public confidence. 

The elections of 1876 gave rise to great ex- 
citement, and much bitter partisanship in con- 
sequence of the closeness of the Presidential 
vote, and the questionable methods of deciding 
upon the successful candidate. 

The returns from Florida, Louisiana, and 
South Carolina were disputed, and it finally be- 
came necessary to adopt a special method of decid- 
ing the contest. A commission of five members of 
each House of Congress and five associate 



144 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

judges of the Supreme Court decided in favor of 
the Republican candidate, Rutherford B. Hayes. 
The decision gave great offense to the Demo- 
crats, and the question is one which is still dis- 
puted. In this year was held the Centennial 
Exhibition. Previous to this time a great 
financial panic swept the country, and carried 
ruin far and wide. The grasshopper plague 
created much suffering and famine through the 
West. 

In 1880 James A. Garfield was elected Presi- 
dent, and Chester A. Arthur Vice-President. 
The Civil Service Reform, begun under Mr. 
Hayes, was taken up vigorously by Garfield, 
and on this issue the party split into two fac- 
tions. Two leaders in the " Stalwart " section, 
Roscoe Conkling and Thomas C. Piatt, resigned 
their seats in the Senate. The excitement caused 
by these events induced a lunatic of&ce-seeker, 
Charles J. Guiteau, to a desperate deed. On the 
2d of Jul}^, 1 88 1, he shot and mortally wounded 
the President in the railroad depot at Washing- 
ton. After months of suffering, the martyred 
President died, September 19th. The Civil Ser- 
vice Reform agitation survived its defender, how- 
ever, and the sentiment in favor of his ideas has 
grown enormously, and promises to become 
stronger. 

In the Presidential election of 1884 the long 
continuance of Republican rule was broken by 



■'tl- 




INUEPENDKNCE HAI.L, I'H 1 1.ADKLPHIA. 



THE STORY OF THE NATION. 145 

the seating of the Democratic candidate, Grover 
Cleveland, who won an enviable record for him- 
self during his administration, both for integrity 
and wise management. In 1888 he again came 
up for election, but was defeated by Benjamin 
Harrison, the Republican nominee. 

Thus the Nation has come down to the present 
day, in which it stands supreme among the 
powers of the world in freedom and prosperity 
and all the true elements of greatness. Upon 
such a basis of accomplished facts, the patriotic 
seer must cast, if he will, its future horoscope. 
10 



CHAPTER IV. 
world's fairs. 

DURING the past half century a favorite 
and effective method of displaying and 
recording the industrial progress of the world 
has been found in the holding of World's Fairs, 
or Universal Exhibitions. Almost every im- 
portant capital of the world has now held one or 
more of these interesting displays, each in suc- 
cession striving to outdo its predecessors in ex- 
tent and magnificence, until the latest of them 
truly present in epitome the invention, industry, 
art, science, and general progress of the entire 
world. It was fitting that the first of these 
universal exhibitions should be held in the 
world's chief city, London. It was opened in 
185 1 in a huge building erected in Hyde Park 
for the purpose, known as the Crystal Palace. 
This stupendous structure was composed chiefly 
of iron and glass and had a floor area of more 
than one million square feet. In size and 
originality of design it was one of the marvels 
of the world. The example quickly stimulated 
similar enterprises in other capitals. Dublin 
and Paris soon followed, and almost simultan- 
eously with the exhibition in the Irish metropo- 

146 



world's fairs. 147 

lis a similar exhibition was opened in the capital 
of the Western Hemisphere. 

The x\merican Crystal Palace, which was 
opened in New York in 1853, was in point of 
size mnch inferior to its prototype in London, 
and altogether insignificant when contrasted 
with the stupendous exhibitions of later years. 
For its time, however, it was proportionately 
equal to any that has ever been held. At that 
time New York City contained only a little more 
than half a million inhabitants, or about one- 
third of its present population. The development 
of the United States was still less advanced. 
What was now central Western States were then 
sparsely settled frontier territories. The Pacific 
railroads were a dream of the dim future. The 
Atlantic Cable was a vision. The telegraph 
itself was a mere rudiment of its present devel- 
opment. The railroad and the steamboat were 
primitive affairs. Even horse cars had not come 
into general use. Photography was in its infancy. 
As for the telephone, the electric light, and a 
score of other great inventions that are now of 
universal use, they were not even dreamed of. 
As the New York Crystal Palace of 1853 was to 
the Chicago Exhibition of 1893, so was America 
and its civilization of that time to our country 
of to-day. 

This first universal exhibition held on Ameri- 
can soil was situated in what is now known as 



148 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

Bryant Park, in New York City. It is now in 
the very heart of the city, at Sixth Avenue and 
Fortieth and Forty -second Streets. In 1853 it 
was well out of town in the suburbs, and was 
known as Reservoir Square. At that time it 
was surrounded by open fields and gardens, with 
here and there rows of pleasant rural cottages. 
A few of the streets were paved in that part of 
the city, but there was only a faint indication of 
what another generation would see. The little 
park was four hundred and fifty-five feet square, 
and almost the entire area was occupied by the 
Crystal Palace. The central idea embodied in 
the plan of the structure was that of a Greek 
cross, whose arms pointed north, south, east, and 
west. The extreme dimensions of the building, 
from north to south and from east to west, were 
365 feet 5 inches, and the arms were each 149 
feet 5 inches wide. The external angles formed 
by the arms of the cross were filled up with tri- 
angular structures, one story iu height, thus 
making the outline of the ground plan an 
octagon. At each of the angles of the building 
was an octagonal tower, 76 feet high, and 
over the central intersection of the cross rose 
a magnificent dome, 100 feet in diameter and 
123 feet high. The external walls of the 
building were composed almost exclusively 
of cast-iron and glass. The floors were of wood, 
and the roof was of wood, covered with tin and 



world's fairs. 149 

supported on wrought-iron framework. The 
roof was supported by 190 cast-iron columns 
on the ground floor, each 8 inches*in diameter 
and 21 feet high. They divided the interior 
into two avenues or naves, each 41 feet 5 
inches wide, with aisles, 54 feet wide, on each 
side. These naves, at their intersection, left 
an octagonal space 100 feet in diameter. The 
aisles were covered with galleries, while the 
.naves were open to the roof and were spanned 
by semicircular arches of cast-iron. The dome 
was supported by twenty-four columns, each 62 
feet high, connected at the top by wrought- 
iron trusses. On the top of these was a cast- 
iron bed-plate, wdth cast-iron shoes for the ribs 
of the dome, which were thirty-two in number. 
These ribs were bolted at the top to a horizontal 
ring of wrought and cast iron, 20 feet in 
diameter, surmounted by a lantern with thirty- 
two ornamental windows, decorated with the 
Arms of the Union and the several States. The 
whole quantity of iron employed in the con- 
struction amounted to 1,800 tons, of which 300 
tons were wrought and 1,500 tons cast. The 
quantity of glass was 15,000 panes, or 55,000 
square feet. The quantity of wood used 
amounted to 750,000 feet board measure. The 
principal dimensions of the building were as 
follows : From main floor to gallery floor, 24 
feet ; from main floor to ridge of nave, 67 feet 4 



150 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

inches ; from maiu floor to summit of dome, 123 
feet 6 inches; area of main floor, 157,195 square 
feet; area q£ gallery floor, 92,496 square feet; 
total area of floor space, 249,691 square feet, or 
about 5^ acres. 

The total amount of space on the floor occu- 
pied by different countries for exhibition, ex- 
clusive of the naves, was about 152,000 square 
feet, divided as follows : The United States, 
54,530; Great Britain, 17,651; Switzerland, 
4,428 ; the German Zollverein, 12,249 ; Holland 
and Belgium, 3,645 ; Austria, 2,187 ; Denmark, 
Sweden, and Norway, 4,231; Russia, 729; the 
West Indies, 1,093 5 British Colonies, 5,798. 
The total number of exhibitors was 4,383. Of 
these 1,778 were from the United States; 677 
from England ; 116 from Switzerland; 813 from 
the German Zollverein ; 155 from Holland and 
Belgium ; and 100 from Austria. The exhibits 
were divided in 31 general classes as follows: 
Class I , Minerals, Mining, and Metallurgy, 
Geological and Mining Sections and Plans. 
Class II, Chemical and Pharmaceutical Pro- 
ducts and Processes. Class III, Substances 
Employed as Food. Class IV, Vegetable and 
Animal Substance Employed in Manufactures. 
Class V, Machines for Direct Use. Class VI, 
Machinery and Tools for Manufacturing. Class 
VII, Civil Engineering, Architectural, and 
Building Contrivances. Class VIII, Naval 



world's fairs. 151 

Architecture, Military Engineering, Armor 
and Accoutrements. Class IX, Agricultural, 
Horticultural, and Dairy Implements. Class 
X, Philosophical Implements and Products 
Resulting from their Use. Class XI, Manu- 
factures of Cotton. Class XII, Manufactures 
of Wool. Class XIII, Manufactures of Silk 
and Velvet. Class XIV, Manufactures of Flax 
and Hemp. Class XV, Mixed Fabrics. Class 
XVI, Leather, Furs, Hair, and their Manu- 
factures. Class XVII, Paper, Stationery, Types, 
Printing, and Book-binding. Class XVIII, 
Dyed and Printed Fabrics. Class XIX, 
Tapestry, Carpets, Floor-cloths, Lace, Em- 
broideries, Trimmings, and Fancy Needle- 
work. Class XX, Wearing Apparel. Class 
XXI, Cutlery and Edge Tools. Class XXII, 
Iron, Brass, Pewter, and General Hardware. 
Class XXIII, Works in Precious Metals and 
their Imitations. Class XXIV, Glass Manu- 
factures. Class XXV, "Porcelain and other 
Ceramic Manufactures. Class XXVI, Deco- 
rated Furniture and Upholster3^ Class XXVII, 
Manufactures in Slate and other Ornamental 
Stones. Class XXVIII, Manufactures from 
Animal and Vegetable Substances not Woven 
or Felted. Class XXIX, Miscellaneous Manu- 
factures, Perfumery, and Toj^s. Class XXX, 
Musical Instruments. Class XXXI, Fine Arts. 
The plan of the building was designed by 



152 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

Messrs. Carstensen & Gildemelster, and was 
selected in preference to other plans snbmitted 
by Sir Joseph Paxton, the builder of the Lon- 
don Crystal Palace. C. B. Detmold was 
the superintending architect and engineer, 
Horatio Allen the consulting engineer, and 
Bdward Hurry the consulting architect. The 
municipal authorities of New York on January 
3d, 1852, granted a lease of Reservoir Square 
for five years, thus furnishing the site for the 
building. The New York Legislature on March 
nth, 1852, granted a charter to the Association 
for the Industry of All Nations, and on March 
17th the Board of Directors met and organized 
with Theodore Sedgwick as President, and 
William Whetten as Secretary. The United 
States Government gave countenance and aid to 
the institution by permitting the introduction of 
foreign goods for exhibition free of duty. 
Daniel Webster, then Secretary of State, se- 
cured the aid of the Representatives of the 
United States at the chief Courts of Europe, 
and the Ministers of Foreign Powers residing in 
the United States sympathized warmly with the 
Association, and commended it favorably to 
their respective governments. Under such 
auspices, and with such encouragement the 
work went forward. The first column was put 
in place with appropriate ceremonies on October 
30th, 1852 ; the building was open to the public 



world's fairs. 153 

on July i5tli, 1853, though still incomplete; 
and on Frida}^ evening, August 20th, 1853, the 
full opening was effected. 

Perhaps no more interesting view of this nota- 
ble institution and the chief events connected with 
it can be given than that which was presented 
by the principal metropolitan newspapers of the 
day. Let us first quote from an account of the 
raising of the first column : 

" The erection of the first column of the 
Crystal Palace took place on Reservoir Square 
at noon on Saturday. The interest in and im- 
portance of the occasion attracted a large con- 
course of citizens. There must have been at 
least two thousand persons present." . 

Volumes could not tell more. Two thousand 
persons present on such an occasion, and they 
called it a " large concourse !" Nevertheless, 
continued the scribe, " There was a large 
number of distinguished citizens upon the 
platform beside the pillar. Among those present 
we noticed his Bxcellency Gov. Hunt, his Honor 
the Mayor, Archbishop Hughes, Felix Forreste, 
General Tallmadge, Henry Meigs, C. Crolius, 
ex-Senator J. A. Bunting, Rev. Dr. Peet, 
Lambert Suj'dam, Hon. Judge Betts, Senators 
McMurray and Beekman, and several other 
invited guests. General Tallmadge and others 
were present as a deputation from the American 



154 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

Institute. Dodworth's band was present during 
the proceedings and played delightfully. When 
the pillar was raised, by means of a derrick, the 
Governor directed it to its place, amid the en- 
thusiastic cheering of those present and the 
firing of cannon, the band, the while, plajang a 
national air." 

The chief address was made by Theodore 
Sedgwick, the President of the Association, and 
his remarks are worth repeating here, as ex- 
pressive of the sentiments that inspired him and 
his associates in the enterprise : 

" Governor Hunt : In the name of the 
Directors of the Association, I thank you 
cordially and respectfully for the trouble which 
you have taken to honor this occasion with your 
presence. Our thanks are also eminently due 
to the city government, not only for their atten- 
dance here to-day, but more for the sagacious 
foresight with which they have extended their 
liberal aid to the enterprise in its infancy. We 
are also proud to see among our friends the 
officers of two societies — one from our own, and 
one from a sister State — which have done so 
much to raise the aims and promote the interests 
of American industry, to open the path in 
which we are now treading. The general objects 
to which this building will be destined are so 
familiar to us all that I need not dwell upon 



world's fairs. 156 

them. Our arrangements are so far advanced 
that we can speak with confidence as to our 
ultimate success. It is sure to strike the 
mind of the European producer, that he has 
substantial objects to attain by sending speci- 
mens of his skill here, which no European 
country can afford. On the other hand, the 
American manufacturer, who has comparatively 
little but honor to gain by sending the produce 
of his skill to Europe, has a clear and distinct 
inducement to exhibit his goods here. If no 
unforseen event occurs, we shall have it in our 
power to make such an exhibition of the costly, 
artistic, and luxurious products of the Old World 
as has never yet been seen among us. These 
considerations will produce their results ; and we 
are equally confident that the industry of our 
country, with that fearless energy w^hich, per- 
haps, more than any other one thing is a distin- 
guishing trait in our national character, will 
eagerly enter into a contest from which, in every 
respect, nothing but good can flow. I shall say 
on this head no more. Those whose eyes, like 
mine, were delighted by the surpassing glories 
of the London Exhibition — who know the 
power, opulence, and varied resources of the 
Old World — who know what those creatures of 
genius, the French, are trying to effect, may 
well pause before they make vaunts for the 
future, Sufiice it, we shall do everything that 



156 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

industry and fidelity can accomplish. Nor shall 
I enlarge on the benefits of an exhibition of this 
kind. There is no doubt whatever that there 
yet exists no similar means for extending the 
circle of knowledge and taste — above all, for 
enlarging and increasing that mutual good-will 
and confidence which is the surest bulwark of 
national independence, and the only guaranty 
of international peace. 

" Sir, at this moment, everything from the 
pen of that great statesman, whose loss we 
lament, will be received with interest. I shall, 
therefore, trespass on you by reading the follow- 
ing letter which I received from him : 

" ' Department of State, 
'"Washington, Oct. 12th, 1852. 
" ' Sir : I have received your favor of Oct. 7th, 
and I have examined with care the papers ac- 
companying it, as well as the sketch of the 
building which you have been good enough to 
send ; the latter appears to me very beautiful. 
Your name and that of the gentlemen asso- 
ciated with you, are sufficient guarantees that 
the enterprise will be conducted with energ}^, 
fidelity, and capacit}^ ; and there can be no doubt 
that an exhibition of the kind you contemplate, 
if properly carried out, will be of very general 
interest and utility. You do not overrate my 
desire to promote your views. Of course I 



world's fairs. 157 

cannot, as a member of the Government of the 
United States, give you any other aid than 
you have already received from the Cus- 
toms Department, by making your building 
a bonded warehouse ; but I will write to the 
representatives of the United States at the prin- 
cipal Courts of Europe, stating to them strongly 
my sense of the importance of your enterprise, 
and the numerous reasons in my mind wh}' they 
should give your agent, JMr. Buscheck, all the 
aid and support that they properly can. I am, 
sir, with great respect, your ob't serv't, 

" ' Daniel Webster. 
" ' Theodore Sedgwick, Esq., New York.' 

" Permit me, sir, to say a word respecting the 
building itself We intend — and I believe it is 
not too much to claim — that the Palace itself 
shall make an epoch in the architecture of our 
city. We believe that it will give an impulse to 
construction in the material of iron that will be 
of the greatest service to that interest. Iron 
constructions have already been carried far for- 
ward by a most intelligent and accomplished 
mechanic — Mr. James Bogardus — and I believe 
that the experience of this building will give it 
a great additional impulse. Its superior light- 
ness, durability, cheapness, and facility of con- 
struction give it immense advantages over any 
other material. We are erecting an edifice that 



158 " MY COUNTRY, 'tis OF THEE." 

will cover, on the ground floor, two and a half 
acres, and it will be done in the winter, in about 
six months, for a sum not much varying from 
$200,000. If any one compares this time and 
the time with what would be required for a 
building of any other material, except wood, the 
immense superiority of iron is most perceptible. 
But there are, sir, ulterior considerations which 
I wish clearly to state. The large cities of the 
elder world, especially on the Continent, possess 
great galleries for popular instruction and 
entertainment. It is, at first sight, remarkable, 
though, in fact, easily intelligible, that in a 
country reposing entirely on popular power, 
comparatively nothing is done on a great public 
scale for the pleasure and instruction of our 
adult people. We have no galleries, no parks. 
This is not the place to say anything in favor of 
a park, though an object which should be dear 
to the heart of every New Yorker. But I desire 
in regard to the other objects, to point out how 
easy it will be hereafter to convert this building 
into a great People's Gallery of Art. Its 
structure is eminently adapted for the purpose. 
We stand here on the city's ground, and it will 
be completely in the power of the city hereafter 
to accomplish this result. Long after our Asso- 
ciation shall have disappeared, I hope this build- 
ing may stand — as long as yonder massive and 
majestic creation ; and like that, in the hands 



world's fairs. 159 

of the public authorities, be one of those monu- 
ments which makes the Government dear to the 
people. [Cheers.] Allow me to say a few words 
of our purposes. The undertaking is a private 
one — fostered by no governmental aid ; but the 
interests are so numerous and divided that not 
the slightest color is afforded for the charge of 
speculation. There are, I venture to say, very 
few undertakings of equal magnitude which are 
represented by so large a number of parties, 
and it thus becomes practicable to impress upon 
the direction and management of the enterprise 
that broad, liberal, impartial, and, as it were, 
national character which is essential to its 
proper development. If our success is what we 
expect and intend it shall be, we shall claim 
the honor of it for our institutions — those insti- 
tutions which enable private individuals to ac- 
complish what in other countries vast govern- 
mental efforts are required to effect. We shall 
claim the honor for the country and for th^ 
people ; for that mixture of individual energy 
and practical accommodation which gives such 
wonderful efficiency to the American character ; 
for that public spirit and private good feeling of 
which we have such striking evidence here to- 
day — bringing together at this moment, men of 
all parties, to work together for a common 
object of general interest. [Cheers.] Other con- 
siderations, sir, yet remain, which, at some 



160 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

other time, I shall ask higher and holier person- 
ages to develop, bnt which I cannot now alto- 
gether overlook. When this structure shall be 
raised — when its lofty dome shall have rushed 
upward to the point where that flag now floats 
— when its crystal surface shall reflect in streams 
of radiance our warm American sun — when its 
graceful and majestic interior shall be filled 
with the choicest products of both worlds — our 
minds will soar upward beyond and above all the 
material considerations to which I have alluded, 
and will recognize our own nothingness, and the 
infinite superiority of the Power by whose favor 
we are permitted to do what little we effect. 
And we shall then unite to pour forth our 
thanks for His mercies, and our supplications 
for His forgiveness and protection," [Loud 
cheers.] 

The Governor immediately replied as fol- 
lows : 

, " Mr. President : Availing myself of the in- 
vitation so kindly extended to me by the Asso- 
ciation over which you preside, I have come to 
participate in the appropriate ceremonies of this 
occasion, and to manifest the sincere interest and 
approval with which I regard your noble under- 
taking. 

" You have now reared the first column of an 
edifice intended to attract the productions of 
genius, industry, and art from all the civilized 




CHICAGO IN IS56, 



world's fairs. 161 

nations of the world. This liberal design is in 
harmony with the prevailing spirit and tendency 
of the age in which we live, and its successful 
completion will form a conspicuous landmark 
in the history of American progress. It is a 
generous conception, alike honorable to the 
public spirit and patriotism of the citizens form- 
ing the Association, and important in its in- 
fluence upon the advancement and happiness of 
societ3\ 

" The conquests already made, and the in- 
creasing interest evinced by our countrymen in 
the culture of those useful arts which promote 
the physical prosperity and moral elevation of a 
people are a source of just pride and encourage- 
ment to the American statesman. 

" By the blessing of Providence we are per- 
mitted to work out our destiny in a period of 
profound peace. For more than a third of a 
ceutury the civilized world has been exempt 
from those destructive w^ars and convulsions 
which had so long wasted the best energies of 
the human race. Nobler purposes engage the 
thoughts of men and the councils of nations. 

" Instead of meeting in battle array, and 
spreading havoc and desolation over the face of 
the earth, a kindlier rivalry prevails, and govern- 
ments cope with each other in a more generous 
spirit of emulation ; in works of beneficence and 
improvement ; in the expansion of commerce, 
11 



162 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

the encouragement of industry, and the triumphs 
of peaceful invention. 

" People, widely separated from each other by 
intervening seas and diversities of language and 
institutions are now drawn nearer together by 
rapid and constant commercial intercourse. Re- 
mote countries are enabled to confer inestimable 
benefits upon each other by a free interchange 
of useful discoveries and improvements, thus 
stimulating industry and skill throughout the 
world, each imparting to all the fruits of its own 
civilization, and (above all) diffusing over the 
globe the spirit of universal brotherhood, which, 
in God's good time, shall unite the human family 
by the cordial ties of sympathy and concord. 

" When considered in a mere political aspect, 
the wonderful display of the industry of all na- 
tions, exhibited in England last year, must be 
regarded as one of the most important events in 
modern history. 

" I rejoice to witness the enlightened efforts 
of my own countrymen to emulate so noble an 
example. 

" The prosecution and success of the enterprise, 
now so auspiciously begun, cannot fail to exert 
a salutary influence, and to produce the most 
valuable results. 

" It will elevate the national character abroad, 
and advance our best interests at home. 

" It will stimulate our people to new and 



WORLD \S FAlRvS. 163 

higlier efforts, until we shall finally attain to an 
equality with the older nations in every useful 
and ornamental art. It will promote the devel- 
opment and improvement of those natural advan- 
tages, so varied and remarkable, with which our 
country is favored ; and furnish another proof of 
the elevating influence of free institutions. 

" In conclusion, Mr. President and gentlemen 
of the Association, permit me to congratulate 
you upon this auspicious commencement. The 
whole country will rejoice in the consummation 
of your great purpose. Accept my sincere 
wishes that your labors in the work of civiliza- 
tion and beneficent progress may be crowned 
with the success w^hich is due to so bright an 
example of disinterested public spirit." 

Mayor Kingsland followed, in a few brief re- 
marks, expressive of his sense of the importance 
of the undertaking, and his sincere desire to see 
it carried out to a most successful completion. 

General Talmadge, on the part of the Ameri- 
can Institute, offered the managers of the Crystal 
Palace his warmest congratulations upon the 
raising of the first pillar of their edifice, and 
that, too, under such auspicious circumstances. 
The American Institute (he said) was glad to 
find such worthy comrades co-operating with 
them to advance the general prosperity of the 
country. 

Appropriate airs were then played by the 



164 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

band, and the " large assemblage " shortly after- 
ward went their way rejoicing in the event of 
the day, with hearty wishes for the successful 
completion of the New York Crystal Palace. 
Such was the first formal celebration of what 
seemed to its projectors a most stupendous en- 
terprise. But the next year saw a much more 
imposing demonstration, when, on July 14th, 
1853, the nearly completed building was for- 
mally inaugurated. The President of the 
United States traveled from Washington to New 
York to take part in the august ceremonial, his 
deliberate progress of several days, by coach, 
boat, and train, being the theme of many col- 
umns of patriotic chronicles in the dail}^ press. 
Here is a leading journal's account of the open- 
ing exercises : 

"The 14th of July, 1853, will henceforward 
rank in our history as a great day. Then was 
consecrated unto Art and Industry a building 
novel and splendid, as regards architecture, and 
containing productions from all parts of the 
earth. The Crystal Palace is far more beautiful 
than its original in London, though much infe- 
rior in size. It covers, however, five acres. Its 
sides are composed of glass, supported by iron. 
Its dome is truly magnificent, and is a triumph 
of art. The prevailing colors of the ceiling are 
blue, red, and cream color. The single fault we 
find with the colors of the other portions of the 



world's fairs. 165 

building is that the supporting pillars are of the 
same color with the other solid works, while if 
they were bronzed, a certain sameness would be 
avoided. 

" Notwithstanding the immense confusion of 
the Palace on the da}^ preceding the inaugura- 
tion, we were surprised, on entering it yesterday 
morning, to find the dome completed and glori- 
ous in its artistic beauty ; the stairways arrayed 
with their crimson and gold, and many of the 
divisions elaborate in their ornamentation, com- 
pletely arranged, and containing their various 
contributions. 

" The vastness of the City of New York was 
strikingly illustrated by the weather of yester- 
day. The President and his suite were -caught 
in a heavy rain in the lower part of the city, 
lasting an hour, while the early visitors at the 
Palace were ignorant "of the circumstance, the 
atmosphere being dry and the sun bright in 
that quarter. 

" The approaches to the Palace were very 
much crowded as we proceeded there about 
eleven o'clock. The thickly-studded drinking- 
shops were flaunting in their intemperate seduc- 
tions. The various shows of monsters, 
mountebanks, and animals, numerous as the 
jubilee-days of the Champs Elysees, opened wide 
their attractions to simple folk. Little specu- 
lators in meats, fruits, and drinks had their 



166 "my country, 'tis of thee." 

tables and stalls al fresco. A rush and whirl of 
omnibuses, coaches, and pedestrians encircled 
the place. But amid all this was plainly dis- 
cernable the excellent provisions of the police to 
maintain order. The entrances to the Palace 
were kept clear, and no disturbance manifested 
itself through the day. Different colored tickets 
admitted the visitors at three different sides of 
the Palace, the fourth closing up against the 
giant Croton Water Reservoir. 

" There were two platforms partially under 
the dome, the centre point under which being 
occupied by Baron Marochetti's exceedingly 
absurd statue of Washington, with Carew's inde- 
scribably absurd statue of Webster — the worst 
calumny on that great man ever yet perpetrated, 
or that can be perpetrated — standing behind it. 
One of these platforms was toward Forty-second 
Street, or the north nave ; the other toward the 
Croton Water Reservoir, on the east nave. 
According to the programme, they were filled by 
the following classes of persons : 

ON NORTH NAVE PLATFORM. 

General Franklin Pierce, President of the 
United States. 

MEMBERS OF THE CABINET. 
Jefferson Davis, Secretary of War. 
James Guthrie, Secretary of the Treasury. 
Caleb Cushing, Attorney-General. 



world's fairs. 167 

senate of the united states. 
Salmon P. Chase, U. S. Senator from Ohio. 
Richard Brodhead, Jr., U. S. Senator from 
Pennsylvania. 

OFFICERS OF THE ARINIY. 

Major-General Winfield Scott, Commander-in- 
Chief. 

Major-General John B. Wool, and a few 
others. 

OFFICERS OF THE NAVY. 

Commodore James Stewart. 

Commodore Boorman, of the Navy Yard. 

There were several other naval and military 
officers present, but their names are not re- 
collected. 

GOVERNORS OF VARIOUS STATES. 

Horatio Seymour, Governor of the State of 
New York. 

George F. Fort, Governor of the State of New 
Jersey. 

Howell Cobb, Governor of the State of 
Georgia. 

THE CLERGY. 

Rt. Rev. Jonathan M. Wainright, D. D., Pro- 
visional Bishop of New York. 

Most Rev. John Hughes, D. D., Archbishop 
of New York. 

Rt. Rev. Henry J. Whitehouse, D. D., Bishop 
of Illinois. 



168 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

Gardiner Spring, D.D., William Adams, D. D., 
aud others. 

THE JUDICIARY. 

Judge Betts, Judge Edmonds, Judge Oakle}', 
Judge Roosevelt, Judge Sandford, Judge Bmmett, 
etc. 

MILITARY, ETC. 

Major-General Sandford, Brigadier-General 
Hall, Brigadier-General Morris, with the Staff 
of the Major-General. 

FOREIGN COMMISSIONERS. 
Messrs. Whitworth and Wallace of the Eng- 
lish Commission, were present. Lord Ellesmere 
we did not see ; he had not arrived in town at 
ten o'clock. Lady Ellesmere and daughters 
were present. 

FOREIGN MINISTERS, ETC. 

General Almonte, Minister Plenipotentiary 
from Alexico. 

M. De Sartiges, Minister Plenipotentiaiyfrom 
France. 

M. De Osma, Minister Plenipotentiary from 
Peru. 

ON THE EAST PLATFORM, 

Officers of the Army and Navy, a considerable 
number. 

Officers of the " Leander." (We are not sure 
that any were present — the ship is not here.) 



world's fairs. 16*J 

Foreign Consuls resident in the City — a num- 
ber present. 

Judiciary of tlie Southern District of New 
York. 

Jacob A. Westervelt, Mayor of New York. 

Francis R. Tillou, Recorder of the City of 
New York. 

Richard T. Compton, President of the Board 
of Aldermen. 

Jonathan Trotter, President of the Board of 
Assistants. 

The Common Council were rather thinly 
represented in numbers. 

Isaac V. Fowler, Postmaster at New York. 

Rev. Dr. Ferris, Chancellor of the University. 

Charles King, LL. D., President of Columbia 
College. 

Members of the Press, the Clergy, Officers of 
the American Institute, etc., etc. 

" We believe there was no Foreign Commis- 
sioner, who came ft-om Europe to be present at 
the Exhibition, but the Earl of Ellesmere. The 
absence of this Commissioner yesterday was 
much to be regrettted, the more so as he was 
prevented from coming by indisposition. Lady 
Ellesmere and her two daughters were present, 
however. 

" There were two military bands — Dodsworth, 
stationed in the west gallery ; Bloomfield's U. S. 



170 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

Band, in the south gallery, and an orchestra, 
with Noll's Military Band, and a grand chorus, 
accompanied also by an organ, in the east 
gallety. 

" The President, being detained by the storm, 
did not arrive at the appointed time of one 
o'clock, being delayed till about an hour later. 
When he did arrive, however, with his suite, 
civil and military, he was warmly greeted by the 
people within the building, who amounted to 
some 20,000, as far as we could judge. The 
United States Band struck up ' Hail Columbia,' 
and finished with ' Yankee Doodle.' This part 
of the day's proceedings was extremely interest- 
ing. When the shouts had died away, and 
thousands of fair hands, waving their handker- 
chiefs, had exhausted their first burst of enthu- 
siasm, Bishop Wainright delivered, in a full, 
round voice, his appropriate prayer. 

" Then came stealing through the vast aisles 
the hymn of Old Hundred set to semi-secular 
words. The effect where we stood under the 
dome was mystically grand. It might be imag- 
ined to tj^pify the voices of distant nations 
rolling in harmonious vastness through the 
aisles, and bearing the accents of gentleness and 
beneficence. Their artistic interpretation was 
intrusted to the ladies and gentlemen of the 
Sacred Harmonic Society, and admirably did 
they execute their task. Mr. George Bristow 



world's fairs. 171 

was the conductor of the body, Mr. Timm, 
however, was the chief director of all the musical 
arrangements. The hymn ran thus : 

" Here, where all climes their offerings send, 
Here, where all arts their tribute lay, 
Before Thy presence. Lord, we bend. 
And for Thy smile and blessing pray. 

''For Thou dost sway the tides of thought. 
And hold the issues in Thy hand, 
Of all that human toil has wrought. 
And all that human skill has plann'd. 

'' Thou lead'st the restless Power of Mind 
O'er destiny's untrodden field. 
And guid'st, wandering bold but blind, 
To mighty ends not yet revealed. 

" Next Mr. Theodore Sedgwick, the Presi- 
dent of the Crystal Palace Association, rose and 
addressed President Pierce. The President re- 
plied evidently impromptu, and his words were 
well chosen. He appeared fatigued in the pre- 
vious efforts he had made in public speaking 
during his journey, and was very brief. Mr. 
Pierce, however, most favorably impressed his 
auditor}'. He was fluent, earnest, and unabashed 
before so vast an auditor3^ Mr. Sedgwick, when 
the President had finished, proposed three cheers 



172 "my country, 'tis ok thee." 

for the President, which were responded to by 
the multitude. 

" In the mere proprieties of the day the scene 
passed off well. The speeches had the excellence 
of brevity ; the music was fine and varied, great 
rivalry evidently existing between the different 
bands and orchestras ; the audience was unex- 
ceptionable in its deportment ; the appearance 
of the feminine portion was brilliant, and it 
must be added that the directors liberally pro- 
vided a ladies' refreshment room ; the attention 
of those in authority, the new uniformed police 
included, was unremitting ; the progress made 
in decorating, finishing, and arraying the details 
of the building and its contents in the few last 
days, when all seemed to promise disorder and 
defeat on the promised day of opening, was a 
veritable wonder of industry ; the arrangements 
of tickets, places, entrance, exits, were admira- 
ble ; the accommodations for the corps of re- 
porters were liberal and thoughtful ; the positions 
of the sculptural attractions were well chosen as 
to locality, light, and combined effect ; and in a 
word, the whole was arranged as to outward 
show with a skill that was unsurpassable. 

" It was a thing to be seen once in a lifetime. 
As we grow in wealth and strength we may build 
a much greater Crystal Palace, and accumulate 
more imperial-like treasures than we could now 
afford to purchase, but it cannot have the effect 



world's fairs. 173 

of this one. This has been the first love of its 
kind. The second cannot bring the exhilaration 
and glory of the first, though exhausting the 
v/ealth of genius in its production. In this we 
behold the first decided stand of America among 
the industrial and artistic nations of the earth. 
In this we see a recognition of her progress, 
power, and possibilities. In this we find a yearn- 
ing after Peace — Peace which shall dimple the 
face of the earth with the smiles of plenty, which 
shall join the hearts of nations, which shall 
abolish poverty and servitude. God's earth loves 
Man to her innermost depths ; treat her well 
with Peace, and she will reward him as a gener- 
ous mother : abuse her with War and she will 
drive him from her presence. Such history has 
proved ; but we may fairly believe that the his- 
torical vicissitudes of the past may be avoided in 
traveling the peaceful and generous path pointed 
out by the Crystal Palace." 

The comments and eulogiums of orators and 
press upon this first American World's Fair 
were, of course, largely pitched in a tone that 
to-day is interesting only in contrast. It is 
archaic, primitive, embryonic, though not devoid 
of what has aptly been termed spread-eagleism. 
One writer, however, discussed the theme with 
memorable eloquence, and in a spirit of broad- 
minded philosophy that makes his almost every 
word as appropriate to the great fair of 1893 as 



174 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

to that of forty years before. " The exhibition," 
he said, " must be particularly instructive to 
Americans, because it will furnish them with 
evidences of a skill in many branches of creation 
beyond their own, and of models of workmanship 
which are superior precisely in those points in 
which their own are most deficient. No one, we 
presume, will push his national predilections so 
far as to deny that, in the finer characteristics of 
manufacture and art, we have yet a vast deal to 
learn. Stupendous as our advances have been in 
railroads, steamboats, canals, printing presses, 
hotels, and agricultural implements — rapidly as 
we are growing in excellence in a thousand 
departments of design and handicraft — astonish- 
ing as may be our achievements, under all the 
difficulties of an adverse national policy — adroit, 
ingenious, and energetic as we have shown our- 
selves in those labors which have been demanded 
by the existing conditions of our society, we have 
yet few fabrics equal to those of Manchester, few 
wares equal to those of Birmingham and Shef- 
field, no silks like those of Lyons, no jewelry 
like that of Geneva, no shawls like those of the 
East, no mosaics like those of Italy. But, in our 
rapid physical improvements — growing, as we 
are, in prosperity, in population, in wealth, in 
luxuries of all kinds — these are the articles that 
we ought to have, and must have to give diversity 
to our industr}^, to relieve us from dependence 



world's fairs. 175 

upon other nations, to refine our taste, and to 
enable the ornamental and elegant appliances of 
our life to keep pace with our external develop- 
ment. Mere wealth, without the refinements of 
wealth — barbaric ostentation, prodigal display, 
extravagant self-indulgence — can only corrupt 
morals and degrade character. But the cultiva- 
tion of the finer arts redeems society from its 
grossness, spreads an unconscious moderation 
and charm around it, softens the asperities of 
human intercourse, elevates our ideals, and im- 
parts a sense of serene enjoyment to all social 
relations. Our common people, immeasurably 
superior to the common people of other nations 
in easy means of subsistence, in intelligence, as 
in the sterling virtues, are yet almost as im- 
measurably behind them in polished and gentle 
manners, and the love of music, painting, 
statuary, and all the more refining social 
pleasures. 

" These Bxhibitions, then, which make us ac- 
quainted with the superlative arts of other 
nations, cannot but be highly useful to us. But 
they have also another use — a moral, if not a re- 
ligious use, in that they teach us so powerfully 
the dependence of nations upon each other — 
their mutual relations, and the absolute neces- 
sity of each to the comfortable existence of all 
the rest. There is hardl}^ an article in the 
Crystal Palace to which the labor of all the world 



176 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE.'^ 

has not in some sort contribnted — hardly a 
machine which is not an embodied record of the 
industrial progress of the world — hardly a fabric 
which, analyzed, does not carry us to the ends 
of the earth, or which does not connect us inti- 
mately with the people of every clime — with the 
miners who tortured its raw material from the 
dark cave, or the diver who brought it from the 
bottom of the sea — with the solitary mariner who 
shielded it from the tempests — with the poor, 
toil-worn mechanic who gave it form or color, or 
with the artist who imparted to it its final finish. 
Thus, no man liveth to himself alone, even in 
his most ordinary occupations ; he is part and 
parcel of us, as we are of him. A wonderful and 
touching unity pervades the relations of the 
race ; all men are useful to all men ; and we 
who fancy that, in some important respects, we 
stand on the summit level of humanit}^, have a 
deep interest in the laborers of the vales — in the 
celerity, the excellence and the success of what 
they do, and in the comfort and happiness of 
their general condition. As Emerson has wisely 
sung, in that sweet poem of his : 

' All are needed by each one ; 
Nothing is fair or good alone.' 

" There is also another thought suggested by 
our topic which contains a world of meaning. 
We are apt to speak, in our discussions, of the 



world's fairs. 177 

progress of industry, but do we always ask our- 
selves wherein that progress consists ? Is it in 
the greater perfection to which, in modern times, 
we have carried the works of our hands ? Look 
at the elegant tissues of Persia and India, or at 
the flexible blades of Toledo and Damascus, and 
say in how far we have surpassed these works 
of semi-barbarous ages and people, with all our 
boasted mechanical improvements ! Can we 
imagine anything more splendid, more rich, and 
more delicate than the clothes in which the 
Oriental princes still array themselves, as their 
forefathers used to array themselves centuries 
ago ? Have we yet a dye more brilliant than 
the Tyrian, a sculpure equal to that of Greece, 
an architecture better than that of the ' Dark 
Ages,' paintings on glass to compare with those 
in the old cathedrals, workers in bronze to rival 
a Cellini ? Is it not the highest compliment 
that we pay to a product of skill or genius to 
say of it that it is ' classical,' that it is worthy 
of the models that have been preserved for ages 
in our galleries and museums ? What then do 
we mean when we speak of ourselves as more 
advanced than former nations ; what is that 
difference between us which authorizes us to use 
the word progress and to look back with a com- 
placent half-pitying eye upon the attainments of 
the generations that have passed away ? 

" It is this : that in our discoveries in science, 

12 



178 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

by our applications of those discoveries to prac- 
tical art, by the enormous increase of mechanical 
power consequent upon mechanical invention, 
we have universalized all the beautiful and glori- 
ous results of industry and skill, we have made 
them a common possession of the people, and 
given to society at large, to almost the meanest 
member of it, the enjoyments, the luxur}^ the 
elegance which in former times were the exclu- 
sive privilege of kings and nobles. Formerly 
the labor of the world fed, and clothed, and orna- 
mented the Prince and his Court, or the warrior 
and his chieftains — but now it feeds and clothes 
and ornaments the peasant and his faniil}^ Then 
the ten thousand poor, miserable wretches worked 
for the one, or the few, but now the ten thousand 
work for the ten thousand. Then the wealth of 
provinces was drained to heap up splendors for 
the lord of the province, but now that wealth is 
multiplied and diffused, to give happiness to the 
commonalty. All the concentrated capital of 
Lyons, and Leeds, and Lowell, all our complicated 
machinery, while it creates new demands for 
human labor, is intended to cheapen manufac- 
turing products, as the effort of that cheapness 
is to put the fabrics of woolen and silk within 
the reach of the poorest classes. Our books, at 
this da}^, may not be individually superior to the 
books of the days of Elzevir, but millions of men 
now possess books where hundreds only possessed 



world's fairs. 170 

tliem formerly. Our vases and cups may not 
be more exquisitely wrought than the vases and 
cups of Benevento Cellini, but they are wrought, 
not like his, for Popes and Emperors, but for 
Smith and Jones, and all the branches, collateral 
and direct, of the immense families of Smith and 
Jones. Our roads are not built at a vast expense, 
for some ro3"al progress, or the passage of a con- 
quering arni}^, but are built to roll from house to 
house the precious treasures of industry, or a 
happy freight of excursionists, giving their hearts 
a holida}^ of merriment and innocent delight. 

''Our progress in these modern times, then, 
consists in this, that we have democratized the 
means and appliances of a higher life ; that we 
have spread, far and wide, the civilizing influences 
of art ; that we have brought, and are bringing 
more and more the masses of the people up to 
the aristocratic standard of taste and enjo^-ment, 
and so diffuse the influence of splendor and grace 
over all minds. Grander powers have been in- 
fused into society. A larger variety and a richer 
flavor have been given to all our individual ex- 
periences ; and, what is more, the barriers that 
once separated our race, the intervals of time and 
space that made almost every tribe and every 
family the enemy of every other tribe and family 
have been annihilated to enable the common 
interests and common enjoyments to renovate and 
warm us into amity of feeling and the friendly 



180 *' MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

rivalry of fellow-workmen pursuing, under 
different circumstances, the same great ends. 

" lycgislation, rightly directed, might have done 
and might yet do much for the civilization and 
advancement of society ; but, unfortunately, in 
most nations of the earth, the legislation, having 
been under the exclusive control of a self-styled 
higher class, has impeded rather than hastened 
the movement. Yet, in the face of this terrible 
obstacle, under all the evils of the insular 
monopoly of Great Britain, seeking to aggrandize 
her own manufacturing industry at the expense 
of the industry of the rest of mankind, the genius 
of practical art has triumphed, and will triumph 
still more over every difficulty. It is raising the 
laborer to his true position ; it is facilitating the 
association of men ; it is harmonizing their 
interests ; and, whether legislation helps it or 
not, it will ultimately redeem our race from de- 
pendence and slavery. And herein is the chief 
reason why we to-day salute with satisfaction the 
opening of the Crystal Palace." 

The Crystal Palace was not a financial sue-" 
cess. Nearly a million dollars were lost in 
the enterprise. Finally, on the evening of 
Tuesda}^, October 5th, 1858, the edifice was de- 
stroyed by fire, with most of its contents. It was 
really not a very great conflagration, measured 
by others that have occurred. Yet it meant the 
destruction of an entire World's Fair establish- 



world's fairs. 181 

ment, and was, in those times, something more 
than a nine days' wonder. " About five o'clock 
last evening," said a next morning's paper, 
" smoke was seen issuing from a large room in 
the north nave, and in front of the entrance on 
Forty-second Street, and in less than half an hour 
thereafter, the Palace was a total wreck, and 
nothing now remains of this edifice but a heap 
of unsightly ruins. The octagonal turrets at 
each corner still remain standing, while here 
and there on every side may be seen stacks of 
iron, the remains of staircases, and portions of 
the framework composing the galleries. 

" From the room above mentioned flames soon 
made their appearance, and spread with in- 
credible rapidity in every direction. There were 
about 2,000 persons scattered about the edifice at 
the time, all of whom, the moment the alarm of 
' fire ' was raised, made a rush for the Sixth 
Avenue entrance, the doors of which were thrown 
open. The entrance on Fortieth Street was 
closed, there being no other means of ingress or 
egress except on Sixth Avenue. Under the di- 
rection of ex-Captain Maynard and several of 
the Directors of the Institute, the crowd of 
visitors were conducted safely to the street, and 
no one that we have heard of was in anywise 
injured. Some of the exhibitors endeavored to 
save their property, but were forced to turn 
toward the door, and were soon compelled to flee 



182 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

to the street. The amount of property saved is 
comparatively trifling. Mr. Smith, an employee 
of the Institute, behaved nobl}^ He was in 
charge of the jewelry department, and was en- 
gaged repairing a case when the alarm was 
given. He finished the case and closed the 
door and then went toward where the fire Mas. 
The smoke was so dense that he almost suffo- 
cated. He saw the fire at the Forty-second 
Street entrance and then ran back to the 
property that had been placed in his charge, 
w^hich property consisted of a quantity of 
watches valued at several thousand dollars. 
Seizing the case, he dragged it from its fasten- 
ing along the gallery, down a flight of stairs, 
and thence out into the street, the entrance at 
this point having at this time been broken open. 
While on his way out, the dome was all in flames. 
The smoke was so dense that he could see but a 
few feet either side of him, and he is under the 
impression that he was the last man in the 
Palace before the dome fell. A 3^oung man 
named Wallis, also in the employ of the Insti- 
tute, heard the alarm, and ran toward Smith, 
whom he desired to break open the case with an 
axe, in order that the jewelry and watches could 
be more readily got at, but Smith told him he 
would not do so. Wallis was obliged to run to 
the street, the smoke nearly suffocating him. 
The view from the street and neighboring build- 



world's fairs. 183 

ings was very grand, and thousands of persons 
thronged to the scene of conflagration." 

The Institute mentioned was the well-known 
American Institute, of New York, which, after 
the close of the World's Fair proper, had occu- 
pied the Palace with its annual fair. It was 
reckoned that the total loss by the fire was a mil- 
lion dollars, but the list of the chief exhibitors and 
their individual losses, published next daj^, now 
looks absurd!}^ meagre. And thus passed out 
of existence the first Universal Exhibition of 
Art and Industry ever held on the American 
Continent. When the next was held, this was 
practically a new nation. The greatest war of 
modern times had been fought and the National 
Constitution amended in many important re- 
spects. Political and social changes of startling 
character were visible on every hand. Material 
growth and development had been achieved on a 
stupendous scale. Great inventions had been 
made. Every circumstance, indeed, rendered it 
fitting and necessary that the second World's 
Fair should immeasurably exceed in all respects 
that which we have just described. 

When the World's Fair of 1853 was opened in 
New York it M-as evident that the American 
nation was nearing some great and important 
changes. When the Cr37-stal Palace was burned 
in 1858, the nation was on the very verge of the 
" impending conflict " which had been long 



181 "my country, 'tis of thee." 

foreseen. The war came. At its close America 
was a new nation. Its political, social, and 
industrial systems were transformed. Its growth 
and expansion received an enormous impetus. 
The influx of population and of ideas and arts 
from other Countries was many-fold greater than 
ever before. And thus it approached the one- 
hundredth anniversary of its independence, and 
preparations were made to commemorate the 
time with a second Universal Exhibition. 

The Centennial Bxhibition, which was held in 
Philadelphia in 1876, was the greatest fair the 
world had then seen. None of its predecessors 
had equalled it in extent, or surpassed it in 
variety or general interest. Paris, in 1867, had 
given a more compact and systematic displa}-, 
and at Vienna, in 1873, Oriental nations were 
more fully represented. But the American Ex- 
hibition had many points of superiorit}- over 
those. It showed the natural products, indus- 
tries, inventions, and arts of the Western Hem- 
isphere as they had never been shown before, and 
brought them for the first time, in their fullness 
and perfection, in contrast with those of the Old 
World. In the department of machinery it was 
incomparably superior to all its predecessors, and 
also in that of farm implements and products. 
In fine arts it did not contain as mau}^ really 
great masterpieces as had been seen at Paris and 
Vienna, but it embraced a wider representation 



world's fairs. 185 

of contemporary art from all parts of tlie world. 
In general manufactures the display was much 
greater in quantit}^ than had ever before been 
attempted. And it greatly exceeded all other fairs 
as a really international exhibition, for every 
civilized state on the globe, excepting Greece and 
a few minor republics in Central and South 
America, was represented. 

About 236 acres of Fairmount Park in 
Philadelphia were occupied b}^ the Kxhibition. 
The ground was admirably adapted for the 
purposes of the Fair. It was an elevated 
plateau, with three spurs jutting out toward the 
Schuylkill River. One of the three spurs was 
occupied by Memorial Hall, containing the art 
exhibition, another by Horticultural Hall, and 
the third b}^ Agricultural Hall, while the broad 
plain where they joined contained the Main 
Building, Machiner}' Hall, United States Gov- 
ernment Building, and about a hundred smaller 
structures. The grounds were traversed by five 
main avenues, a belt-line railroad, and many 
miles of minor walks. There was an extensive 
lake, and a splendid wealth of lawns, flowerbeds, 
and groves. 

The Main Building was the largest edifice in 
the world. It was 1,876 feet long and 464 feet 
wide, covering 21^ acres of ground. In the 
centre were four square towers, 120 feet high. 
The facades at the end \vere 90 feet high, and the 



18G " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OK THEE." 

corner towers 75 feet. The central aisle was 
1,832 feet long, 120 feet wide, and jo feet high. 
The framework was of iron, filled in with wood 
and glass. Nearly one-third of the space was 
occnpied by American exhibitors. Great Britain 
and her colonies occupied the next largest area, 
with a display of enormous proportions and daz- 
zling brilliancy. A single firm of silversmiths 
sent half a million dollars' worth of wares. 
France and her colonies and the German Bmpire 
were also splendidly represented. Other con- 
spicuous exhibitors were Holland, Belgium, 
Austria, Russia, Spain, Japan, Sweden and Nor- 
way, Italy, and China. Mexico, Brazil, Switzer- 
land, Portugal, Egypt, Turkey, Denmark, Tunis, 
Chile, the Argentine Republic, Peru, the Orange 
Free State, the Sandwich Islands, and Venezuela 
were also represented. Never before had there 
been gathered together in one place such a com- 
prehensive display of the arts and industries of 
so many of the peoples of the world. 

Machinery Hall, which was especially devoted 
to machinery in motion, was 1,402 feet long and 
360 feet wide, with an annex 208 by 210 feet 
for hydraulic machinery. There -were more 
than 10,000 feet of shafting for conveying to the 
various machines the motive power generated 
by the huge Corliss engine. This enormous 
machine had cylinders of 44 inches diameter, and 
ten feet stroke, a fly-wheel 30 feet iu diameter, 



world's fairs. 187 

and 56 tous in weight, making 36 revolutions 
per minute. There were 20 tubular boilers of 
70 horse-power each, and at 60 pounds pressure 
the work of the engine was about 1,400 horse- 
power. This building contained by far the 
largest and most varied display of working 
machinery that had at that time ever been seen 
in the world. 

Horticultural Hall was a graceful Moorish 
palace, largely built of glass, and contained a 
magnificent exhibit of trees, shrubs, and flowers 
from all parts of the world. Agricultural Hall 
consisted of a nave 826 feet long and 100 wide, 
crossed by three transepts, each 465 feet long, 
and from 80 to 100 feet wide. The inclosed space 
was about 12 acres in extent, and it contained a 
marvellous display of agricultural implements 
and products from all parts of the world. 
Memorial Hall was intended as a permanent 
building, and was constructed in substantial 
manner of granite, glass, and iron. It is 365 
feet long and 210 feet wide, with a square tower 
at each corner, and a four-sided dome at the 
centre. Besides these buildings the United 
States Government erected a vast structure, 
360 by 300 feet, for the display of the operations 
of its various departments ; many foreign 
governments had buildings of their own ; so 
had more than a score of the States ; and there 
were also buildings for the Judges, and for a 
great number of special industries. 



188 •' MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

The technical history of the enterprise may 
be briefly recounted as follows : The Exhibition 
was really a natural outgrowth of the Universal 
Exposition held at Paris in 1867. That aff"air 
was much the most extensive international ex- 
hibition ever held up to that time, and its 
brilliant success produced a marked impression 
throughout the civilized world. Austria took 
immediate measures to rival it, and carried out 
her ambitious plans six years later at Vienna. 
Among the many Americans who saw the 
wonderful show on the banks of the Seine there 
were many who expressed a desire to see an 
enterprise of the kind attempted in their own 
country. It is believed that Gen. C. B. Norton, 
of New York, one of the Commissioners to the 
Paris Exposition, was the first who suggested 
the idea of a World's Fair to commemorate the 
Centennial Anniversary of American Inde- 
pendence. This he did while viewing the 
preparations for the exposition in the Champs 
de Mars in company with Mr. Dudley S. 
Gregory, of New York, in the summer of 1866. 
His plan was to hold the exhibition in Central 
Park. Mr. Gregory returned in the fall and 
laid the matter before the American Institute, 
but it does not appear that any action was taken. 
The next agitation of the question was in June, 
1868, when at a meeting of the Massachusetts 
exhibitors at Paris, held in the Music Hall, Bos- 
ton, for the distribution of the awards forwarded 



world's fairs. 189 

by the Frencli Government to this country, 
Dr. C. J. Jackson offered a resolution in favor of 
an international exhibition in Washington, to 
open July 4th, 1876. After some speech-making 
the resolution was adopted. In the fall of the 
same year a meeting to forward the project was 
held in New York under the chairmanship of 
Dr. G. B. Loring. A committee of nine was ap- 
pointed, but there the matter ended. New York 
had failed to appreciate the grandeur and im- 
portance of the project. Washington had a 
livelier comprehension, but was too poor to do 
anything that involved expenditure. 

It now remained for Philadelphia to come for- 
ward. In 1869 Mr. M. Richard Muckle, of The 
Philadelphia Ledger^ wrote a letter to President 
Grant, urging the holding of a World's Fair in 
the city where the Declaration of Independence 
was signed, and this letter, widely published and 
commented upon, fairly set the ball in motion. 
Soon after it appeared the Franklin Institute and 
the Academy of Fine Arts memorialized Congress 
on the subject, and the City Councils appointed 
a Centennial Committee. In February, 1871, a 
committee from the New Jersey Legislature 
visited Philadelphia to confer with the Councils, 
and in April a delegation from Virginia came on 
the same errand. At the instance of the Penn- 
sylvania members. Congress took up the question 
in the session of 1870-71, and on the 3d of March 



190 " MY COUNTRY, 'tis OF THEE." 

passed an act " to provide for celebrating the 
One Hundredth Anniversary of American Inde- 
pendence by holding an International Exhibition 
of arts, manufactures, and products of the soil 
and mine in the City of Philadelphia and State 
of Pennsylvania, in the year 1876." Under this 
act one hundred Commissioners were appointed ; 
but it was found impossible to assemble a quorum 
of this unwieldy body, and the organization was 
changed by a supplementary act, providing for 
one Commissioner and one alternate from each 
State and Territory, appointed by the President 
on the nomination of the Governors. No money 
was appropriated. In June, 1872, Congress 
passed another act, creating a separate corpora- 
tion, called the Board of Finance, to raise funds 
by subscriptions throughout the country, and to 
take entire charge of the finances of the Exhibi- 
tion, which was made a stock concern, with a 
capital of $10,000,000, in shares of $10 each. 
Large subscriptions were at once obtained from 
the citizens of Philadelphia. The State of Penn- 
sylvania appropriated $1,000,000; the City of 
Philadelphia, $1,500,000; the State of New 
Jersey, $100,000 ; and the States of Delaware, 
New Hampshire, and Connecticut, $10,000 each. 
Subscriptions amounting to about $250,000 were 
subsequently raised in New York City. The 
business men of the New England States also 
contributed, but the West gave almost notlriiig, 



world's fairs. 191 

and tlie South nothing. The aggregate amount 
spent by foreign countries for the Exhibition was 
about $2,500,000. 

On June 26th, 1873, Governor Hartranft in- 
formed the President that provision had been 
made for erecting the buildings. Upon that in- 
formation the President, on July 3d of the same 
year, issued his proclamation declaring that the Ex- 
hibition would be held in 1876. Secretary Fish, 
on the 5th of July, informed the representatives 
of foreign nations of the Exhibition, and invited 
them to participate. Formal acceptances were 
received, before the beginning of 1876, from 
Great Britain, France, Austria, Germany, Bel- 
gium, Sw^eden, Holland, Spain, Portugal, Italy, 
Norw^ay, Egypt, Denmark, Turkey, Switzerland, 
Mexico, Venezuela, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Argentine 
Confederation, Sandwich Islands, China, Japan, 
Australia, Canada, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Colombia, 
Liberia, Orange Free State, Equador, Guatemala, 
Salvador, and Honduras. March 3d, '1875, Con- 
gress appropriated $505,000 for the arrangement 
of an official Government display, of which 
$150,000 was to be appropriated for the erection 
of a special building for the Government Ex- 
hibition. On the 4th of July, 1873, the Com- 
missioners of Fairmount Park formally conveyed 
450 acres of land at Lansdowne, in the Park, 
for buildings and other purposes of the Ex- 
hibition. 



192 " MY COUNTRY, *TIS OF THEE." 

In 1873 the Commission sent Professor W. P. 
Blake, of Connecticut, to the Vienna Exhibition 
as a Special Commissioner to study and report 
upon it. The General Director, Mr. A. T. 
Goshorn, also made a thorough examination of 
that fair. Ground was broken for the Exhibi- 
tion buildings July 4th, 1874. Machinery Hall 
was completed in November, 1875, Horticultural 
Hall and the Main Building in January, 1876, 
and Memorial Hall and Agricultural Hall in 
April. In February, 1876, Congress appropri- 
ated $1,500,000 to complete the payments for the 
buildings, and thus enabled the Commission to 
open the Exhibition free from debt. 

The formal opening of the Centennial Ex- 
hibition was effected on May loth, 1876. At 
nine o'clock A. m. on that day the gates of the 
grounds, with the exception of those at the east 
end of the Main Building, were opened to the 
public at the established rate of admission of 
fifty cents each. The Main Building, Memorial 
Hall, and Machinery Hall were reserved for 
guests and exhibitors until the conclusion of the 
ceremonies, at about one p. m., when all restric- 
tions were withdrawn. The inaugural cere- 
monies were conducted in the open air, on an 
area of about 300 by 700 feet between the Main 
Building and Memorial Hall. The concourse of 
spectators within sight of the ceremonies, though 
largely not within hearing distance, was more 




n.YSSKS S. GRANT. 



world's fairs. 1V)3 

than 110,000. At au early hour a military 
parade moved from the city to the exhibition 
grounds. At its head was the First Troop of 
Philadelphia City Cavalry, acting as the bod}''- 
guard of the President of the United States. This 
was followed by the Boston Cadets and the 
Boston Lancers, escorting Governor Rice, of 
Massachusetts, and his staff. Governor Hart- 
ranft, of Pennsylvania, and his staff came next, 
and were succeeded by Major-General Bankson 
and a large body of Pennsylvania State troops. 
No flags nor other ensigns were displayed on or 
about the buildings and grounds until an ap- 
pointed signal was given, and all the organs, 
bells, and other musical instruments awaited in 
silence the same notice. 

At 10.15 A. M. the huge orchestra of one hun- 
dred and fifty pieces, under the direction of Mr. 
Theodore Thomas, began playing the various 
national airs of the world. First was pla3^ed 
"The Washington March," after which came the 
national music of the Argentine Republic, Aus- 
tria, Belgium, Brazil, Denmark, France, Ger- 
many, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, 
Norway, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, 
and Turkey, concluding with " Hail Columbia." 
On the arrival of the President of the United 
States — General U. S. Grant — accompanied by 
the Emperor Dom Pedro, of Brazil, the Director 
General of the Exhibition, and other notable 

13 



194 " MY COUNTRY, 'tis OF THEE." 

personages, the " Centennial Inauguration 
March," which had been composed by Richard 
Wagner for the occasion, was performed. The 
Rev. Dr. Matthew Simpson, Bishop of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, then offered prayer. 
A hymn, written by John Greenleaf Whittier, 
was sung by the choir of one thousand voices to 
music composed by John K. Paine, with organ 
and orchestral accompaniment. John Welsh, 
President of the Centennial Board of Finance, 
formally presented the buildings to the Centen- 
nial Commission. A cantata, written by Sidney 
I/anier, of Georgia, with music by Dudley Buck, 
was sung by the chorus, with solos by Myron W. 
Whitney. General Joseph R. Hawley, President 
of the United States Centennial Commission, 
formally presented the Exhibition to the Presi- 
dent of the United States, who responded in a 
brief address, closing with the words, " I declare 
the International Exhibition now open." At that 
moment a thousand flags were unfurled on every 
hand, innumerable bells and whistles were 
sounded, a salute of one hundred guns was fired, 
and Handel's " Hallelujah Chorus " was sung 
by the great choir, with organ and orchestral 
accompaniment. Then the President and other 
distinguished guests formed in a small proces- 
sion and moved through the principal buildings. 
In Machinery Hall the President and the 
Emperor of Brazil set in motion the great engine 



world's fairs. 105 

and all the machinery connected therewith, being 
assisted by Mr. George H. Corliss, the builder 
and giver of the engine. Then the President 
and other guests were escorted to the Judges' 
pavilion, where a brief reception was held. This 
concluded the opening exercises, and thenceforth 
the grounds and buildings were open to the 
public, at fifty cents admission, every week-day 
until November loth, when the Exhibition was 
closed, 

A number of the State Governments arranged 
excursions to the Kxhibition by the State officers 
and citizens generally. These " State days," as 
they were termed, were as follows : New Jersey, 
August 24th ; Connecticut, September 7th ; 
Massachusetts, September 14th ; New York, 
September 21st ; Pennsylvania, September 28th; 
Rhode Island, October 5th ; New Hampshire, 
October 12th ; Delaware and Maryland, October 
19th ; Ohio, October 26th ; and Vermont, Octo- 
ber 27th. 

The other principal events on the season's 
calendar were as follows : May 23d, Session of 
True Templars ; May 24th, Meeting of Judges 
of Awards ; May 30th, Decoration Day and 
Opening of the Bankers' Building; June ist, 
Parade of Knights Templar ; June 7th, Conven- 
tion in Brewers' Hall; June 12th, Women's 
International Temperance Convention ; June 
15th, Dedication of Ice Water Fountain by the 



196 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

Sons of Temperance; June 27th to July lotli, 
Bncampment of the West Point Cadets ; July 
I St, Excursion of Soldiers' Orphans from Lin- 
coln Home ; July 4th, Centennial Celebration of 
the Declaration of Independence and Dedication 
of the Catholic Total Abstinence Beneficial 
Society's Fountain ; July 6th, 7th, 8th, 13th, 
i8th, 19th, 20th, 2ist, Excursions given by the 
Philadelphia & Reading Railroad to its Em- 
ployees ; July 15th, Encampment of the 
Columbus, Ohio, Cadets ; August 3d to 9th, 
Encampment of Pennsylvania Troops ; August 
30th, Excursion of Steinway & Sons' Em- 
ployees ; August 2 2d, National and International 
Rowing Matches began on the Schuylkill River ; 
August 23d, Parade of the Knights of P3^thias ; 
August 28th, Parade of Swiss Citizens ; August 
29th, Reception by the Mayor of Philadelphia ; 
September ist to October i8th, Live Stock Ex- 
hibitions ; September 2d, Encampment of Con- 
necticut National Guard ; September 4th, Inter- 
national Medical Congress ; September 2otli, 
Odd Fellows' Day ; September 23d, International 
Rifle Teams — Scotch, Irish, Australian, and 
American — visited the Exhibition ; September 
28th, Grand Display of Fireworks ; October 7th, 
Encampment of Cadets of Virginia IMilitary In- 
stitute ; October 12th, Dedication of Statue of 
Columbus ; October 14th, Dedication of Statue 
of Dr. Witherspoon ; October 19th, Tourna- . 



world's fairs. VJ7 

ment ; October 2 6tl], Merchants' Day ; Novem- 
ber 2d, Dedication of Statue to Bishop Allen by 
Colored Citizens ; November 7th, Reception by 
Women's Centennial Executive Committee ; 
November 9tli, International Pyrotechnic Con- 
test ; November loth, Closing Ceremonies. 

The United States Centennial Commission 
held an imposing commemoration of the Cen- 
tennial Anniversary of the Declaration of In- 
dependence in Independence Square on July 
4th. The following was the programme of 
exercises : 

1. Grand Overture, " The Great Republic," 
founded on the National Air, " Hail Columbia," 
and arranged for the occasion by the composer, 
George F. Bristow, of New York ; rendered by 
the orchestra under the direction of Patrick 
Sarsfield Gil more. 

2. The President of the Commission, General 
Joseph R. Hawley, called the assembly to order 
and announced the acting Vice-President of the 
United States, Senator Thomas W. Ferry, as the 
presiding officer of the day in the absence of the 
President of the United States. 

3. Prayer by the Rev. Dr. William B. Stevens, 
Protestant Episcopal Bishop of Pennsylvania. 

4. Hymn, " Welcome to all Nations," by 
Oliver Wendell Holmes, to the music of Keller's 
" National Hymn." 

5. Reading of the Declaration of Indepen- 



198 "my country, 'tis of thee" 

dence from the original manuscript by Richard 
Henry Lee of Virginia. 

6. Greeting from Brazil ; a Hymn for the 
First Centennial of American Independence, 
composed by A. C. Gomes, of Brazil, at the 
request of the Hmperor Doni Pedro ; rendered by 
the orchestra. 

7. Reading of " National Ode," by Bayard 
Taylor. 

8. Grand Triumphal IMarcli, with chorus, 
"Our National Banner;" words by Dexter 
Smith, of Massachusetts, music by Sir Julius 
Benedict, of Kngland. 

9. Oration, by William M. Evarts, of New 
York. 

10. Hallelujah Chorus, from Handel's " Mes- 
siah." 

11. Doxology, " The Old Hundredth Psalm." 
Space will not permit the printing here of the 

oration or other features of the programme, 
with the exception of the hymn, " Welcome to 
All Nations," by Oliver Wendell Holmes, which 
was as follows : 

I. 

Bright on the banners of lily and rose, 
Lo, the last sun of the century sets ! 

Wreathe the black cannon that scowled on our 
foes , 
All but her friendships the nation forgets ! 



world'vS fairs. 199 

All but lier friends and their welcome forgets ! 

These are around her, but where are her foes ? 
Lo, while the sun of the century sets, 

Peace with her garlands of lily and rose ! 

II. 
Welcome ! a shout like the war-trumpets swell, 

Wakes the wild echoes that slumber around ! 
Welcome ! it quivers from Liberty's bell ; 

Welcome ! the walls of her temple resound ! 
Hark ! the gray walls of her temple resound ! 

Fade the far voices o'er river and dell ; 
Welcome ! still whisper the echoes around ; 

Welcome ! still trembles on Liberty's bell ! 

III. 

Thrones of the continents ! Isles of the sea ! 

Yours are the garlands of peace we entwine ! 
Welcome once more to the land of the free, 

Shadowed alike by the palm and the pine. 
Softly they murmur, the palm and the pine, 

" Hushed is our strife in the land of the free." 
Over your children their branches entwine, 

Thrones of the continents ! Isles of the sea 

The distribution of awards to exhibitors 
occurred in the Judges' Hall on Wednesday, 
September 27th, with an interesting programme 
of music and addresses. 

On November 9th a farewell banquet was 



200 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

given to the Foreign Commissioners and Judges 
of Awards by the Centennial Commission and 
Board of Finance in St. George's Hall. The 
guests on this occasion included the Com- 
missioners and Diplomatic Representatives of 
the nations which had participated in the Ex- 
hibition, the Chief Justice and Judges of the 
Supreme Court of the United States, a number 
of Senators and members of the United States 
Congress, the Secretary of State and other 
members of the Cabinet of the United States, 
the Governors of Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, 
Delaware, and New Jersey ; the Mayor of Phila- 
delphia, the Presidents of the Philadelphia City 
Councils, and the officers and members of the 
Fairmount Park Commission, the Centennial 
Commission, and the Centennial Board of 
Finance. The President of the United States 
was the presiding officer of the evening. Dur- 
ing the course of the banquet addresses were 
made by representatives of the several bodies 
participating, and by Commissioners of each of 
the foreign countries represented, each being 
introduced in turn by the President of the Cen- 
tennial Commission amid the applause of the 
guests. 

The closing ceremonies of the Exhibition oc- 
curred on Friday, November loth. They were 
to have been held like the opening exercises, 
out-of-doors, but stormy weather made it neces- 



world's fairs. 201 

sary to hold them withiu the Judges' Hall. At 
sunrise a Federal salute of thirteen guus was fired. 
The programme proper was opened with the In- 
auguration March, composed by Richard 
Wagner, and performed by the orchestra 
under Theodore Thomas. Prayer was offered 
by the Rev. Dr. Joseph A. Seiss. Addresses 
followed by D. J. Morrell, United States Cen- 
tennial Commissioner from Pennsylvania, and 
Chairman of the Executive Committee ; John 
Welsh, President of the Centennial Board of 
Finance ; A. T. Goshorn, Director General, and 
Joseph R. Hawley, President of the United 
States Centennial Commission ; a-lternating with 
musical selections rendered by the chorus and 
orchestra. After General Hawley's address, the 
national hymn, " My Country, 'tis of Thee," 
was rendered by the orchestra, choir, and general 
audience. During the singing, the American 
flag which was carried by John Paul Jones 
on his frigate, the " Bon Homme Richard," in 
1779, was unfurled above the platform, and a 
salute of forty-seven guns was fired. Then the 
President of the United States rose and said : "I 
now declare the International Exhibition of 
1876 closed." General Hawley said : " The Presi- 
dent of the United States will now give the sig- 
nal to stop the great engine." The President 
then waved his hand to a telegraph operator, 
who instantly sent an electric message to the 



202 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

engineer in Machinery Hall, and at exactly 
3.40 o'clock p. M. the great engine ceased to 
work. The singing of the Doxology by the 
choir and audience conclnded the ceremony. 

It will be of interest to add, for purposes of 
record and reference, some statistics regarding 
the Exhibition. Nearly all supplies of goods, 
and nearly all visitors were brought to Phila- 
delphia over the lines of two railroad companies, 
the Pennsylvania, and the Philadelphia & 
Reading. During 1874 these roads delivered at 
the Exhibition grounds 3,341 loaded freight cars ; 
in 1875, 10,479; and in 1876, 6,340; a total of 
20,160 loaded cars bearing about 200,000 tons of 
freight. During the continuance of the Ex- 
hibition there arrived at the Centennial station 
of the Pennsylvania Railroad 23,972 passenger 
trains, and at the station of the Philadelphia 
& Reading Railroad, 42,495. The average 
number of trains daily was more than 410, and 
the average number of cars to each train more 
than 6, giving accommodations in the whole 
number of trains for over 20,000,000 passengers, 
The greatest service in one day at the Pennsyl- 
vania depot comprised 250 trains of 2,004 cars, 
bearing 58,347 passengers ; and at the Phila- 
delphia & Reading station on the same day 
370 trains of 2,867 cars, bearing 185,800 pas- 
sengers ; a total of 620 trains, 4,871 cars, and 
244,147 passengers. During the entire Ex- 



world's fairs. 203 

hibition there arrived at tlie Pennsylvania depot 
1,392,697 passengers, and at the Philadelphia 
& Reading 1,726,010. 

There were received at the Exhibition from all 
the countries of the world 154,273 packages of 
goods, weighing 57,116,658 pounds; and there 
were removed from the grounds at the close of 
the fair 58,700 packages, weighing 27,041,271 
pounds. 

From May loth to November loth, 1876, there 
were admitted to the grounds a grand total of 
9,910,966 persons, from whom were received 
admission fees amounting to $3,813,724.49. 
The largest number admitted on any day was 
274,919, on Pennsylvania Day, September 28th. 
The smallest number, 12,720, was admitted on 
Friday, May 12th. The largest number of per- 
sons passing through a single gate in a single 
hour was 1,870. The day of the week most 
popular among visitors was Thursday, with an 
average of 76,905 attendants, and the least 
popular was Monday, with an average of 

50.051- 

The total number of persons transported to 

and from the Exhibition was 19,821,932, of whom 
3,574,528 came on local trains, 2,334,804 on rail- 
road trains from out of the city, 10,557,100 by 
tramwa3'S, 556,500 by steamboat, 803,000 by 
carriages, and 1,996,000 on foot. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE COLUMBIAN EXHIBITION. 

THE New York World's Fair of 1853 was 
the third universal exposition ever held, 
and was almost exactly contemporaneous with 
the second. That in Philadelphia in 1876 was 
the eighth. That in Chicago in 1893 will be the 
fourteenth, and will surpass in size and interest 
all its predecessors. As a rule, such exhibitions 
have been held simply to stimulate commerce 
and manufactures and educate the public in the 
progress of art and industry. One notable ex- 
ception to this rule was observed in 1876, when 
the Universal Exhibition at Philadelphia, besides 
fulfilling those objects, also served to commemo- 
rate the centenary of American Independence. 
So, too, the great fair at Chicago is to mark the 
four hundredth anniversarj^ of that memorable 
enterprise in which Christopher Columbus found 
a new world, not only, as the legend on his 
banner declared, for Castile and Leon, but for 
civilization and for humanity. 

Great as was the advancement of the nation, 
material and otherwise, between 1853 and 1876, 
it has been no less marked and impressive be- 
tween the latter date and the present time. The 
exhibition at Chicago, accordingly, may be ex- 

204 



THE COLUMBIAN EXHIBITION. 205 

pected in like measure to surpass that at Phila- 
delphia in variety and extent. There are new 
inventions to display which were unheard of in 
1876, but which now are familiar as household 
words. There are the fruits of the labor and 
skill of the many millions who have been added 
to the population of America. There are the 
results of experience and observation at the 
great fairs held in other lands. There are in- 
numerable circumstances and conditions combin- 
ing to make this by far the most important 
exhibition the world has yet seen. 

During the years 1889 and 1890 there was 
much public discussion of the proposed celebra- 
tion of the fourth Columbian centenary. When 
a general agreement was reached that it should 
chiefly take the f(Trm of a World's Fair, the 
question arose , in what city the enterprise should 
be placed. Rival r}^ became exceedingly keen, 
especiall}^ between New York, Chicago, and 
Washington, and presently it M'as seen that one 
of these three must secure the prize. But 
which ? Washington was the national capital, 
and thus an appropriate site ; it was accessible, 
it had magnifient grounds for the purpose. As 
for New York, it was the metropolis, the busi- 
ness and social capital, the chief port, the city 
of greatest size and wealth and interest. In 
favor of Chicago it was urged that it was, with 
its marvellous growth and enterprise, most truly 



20G MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE. 

representative of the American spirit ; that it 
was nearest to the centre of the country, and 
that in point of general fitness it was second to 
no other. The ultimate decision was left with 
Congress, and it was in favor of Chicago ; where- 
upon all rivalries were forgotten, and New York 
and the whole nation joined loyally in the work 
of helping forward the gigantic undertaking. 

Congress and the President gave to the 
enterprise the stamp of official sanction, and the 
State Department formally invited the nations 
of the world to participate in the great exhibi- 
tion. In response no less than fort3^-nine 
nations and colonies sent prompt acceptances, 
and will accordingly make exhibits, showing the 
advances made in the arts and sciences and the 
progress generally of each in every field of 
human endeavor. These are : Argentine Re- 
public, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Bolivia, 
Brazil, China, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, 
Denmark, Danish West Indies, Ecuador, France, 
Algeria, French Guiana, Germany, Great 
Britain, Barbadoes, British Columbia, British 
Guiana, Honduras, Cape Colony, Ceylon, 
Jamaica, New South Wales, New Zealand, Trini- 
dad, Guatemala, Hayti, British Honduras, 
Japan, Mexico, Dutch Guiana, Dutch West 
Indies, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Persia, Peru, Rus- 
sia, Salvador, San Domingo, Siam, Spain, Cuba, 
Porto Rico, Turkey, Uruguay, Venezuela, Zan- 



THE COLUMBIAN EXHIBITION. 207 

zibar. Of course all the States and Territories 
of the Union will also be fully represented, with 
displaj^s that will surpass by far those made at 
Philadelphia in 1876. 

It is fitting to take at least a brief glance at 
the extraordinary city in which this latest and 
greatest Universal Exhibition is to be held — ex- 
traordinary both in its history and in its present 
status. The first white man who trod its soil 
was the famous French missionary, Father 
Marquette. He went thither in 1673. Later, 
La Salle, Joliet, Hennepin, and others visited 
the region ; but none of them made any settle- 
ment there. Indeed, while Boston, New York, 
Philadelphia, Baltimore, and other cities were 
attaining great size and almost venerable age, 
the site of this Western metropolis remained a 
wilderness. In 1804, however, the Government 
established a frontier military post at the mouth 
of the Chicago River, calling it Fort Dearborn. 
The little garrison remained there eight years 
and then, in 181 2, was annihilated by the 
Indians, though a few other wdiite settlers sur- 
vived and held their ground. The next attempt 
at settlement occurred in 1829, when James 
Thompson surveyed the site for a proposed town. 
On August loth, 1833, the settlement was in- 
corporated, there being twenty-eight legal 
voters. On March 4th, 1837, a city charter was 
obtained, and thenceforth the growth of the 



208 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

place was rapid and substantial beyond all 
imagination. In 1840 the population was 
4,479 ; in 1850 it was 28,269 ; in i860 it was 
112,172; and 1870 it was 298,977. 

In the fall of 187 1 occurred an event notable not 
only in the history of Chicago, but of the whole 
world. A little before midnight, on October 9th, 
a fire broke out, at the corner of De Koven and 
Jefferson Streets. The weather for weeks had 
been dry, and a high wind prevailed. Before 
daylight the fire had burned its way to Lincoln 
Park, nearly four miles ; and by the following 
afternoon it had spread over 2,100 acres, 
100,000 people were homeless, and $200,000,000 
worth of property was destroyed. The business 
part of the city was a waste of ashes. With 
characteristic generosity the whole country 
sprang to the relief of the stricken city. A 
fund of nearly $5,000,000 was quickly collected, 
and the work of succoring the needy and re- 
building the city was begun. Within two years, 
almost every trace of the stupendous calamity 
had vanished, and the growth of the city pro- 
ceeded even more swiftly than before. In 1880 
its population was 503,185, and in 1890 it had 
been swelled to the enormous total of 1,098,576 
— the second city of the Union. Its growth is at 
the rate of more than 1,000 per week. 

When it was incorporated, Chicago covered an 
area of two and a half square miles ; now it 




k' 




^.ak.. .4mtL..mt 




^. '\ 



THE COLUMBIAN EXHIBITION. 209 

covers 1S1.7 square miles. Its lake front is 22 
miles, and its frontage on the river 58 miles. 
It has more than 2,230 miles of streets, mostly 
broad and well paved. Its water supply is drawn 
from away out in Lake Michigan, and amounts 
to a hundred gallons daily for each inhabitant, 
though the works are capable of furnishing 
twice that quantity. Twenty-six independent 
railroad lines enter the city, making it the 
greatest railroad centre in America. The 
principal roads are the Atchinson, Topeka & 
Santa Fe, Baltimore & Ohio, Chicago, Burling- 
ton & Quincy, Chicago, Milwaukee & St. 
Paul, Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific, Chicago, 
St. Paul & Kansas City ; Chicago & Alton, 
Chicago & Bastem Illinois, Chicago & Grand 
Trunk, Chicago & Northern Pacific, Chicago 
& Northwestern, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chi- 
cago & St. Louis ; Illinois Central, Lake 
Shore & Michigan Southern, Louisville, New 
Albany & Chicago ; Michigan Central, con- 
necting with other Vanderbilt roads ; New 
York, Lake Brie & Western ; Northern Pacific, 
Pennsylvania, Union Pacific, Wabash, and Wis- 
consin Central. 

Nor is Chicago lacking in facilities for trans- 
portation by water. Its situation gives it easy 
access to all the commercial activities of the 
great lake system ; and it has direct water com- 
munication by way of the St. Lawrence River 



210 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

with Montreal, and by the Brie Canal and Hud- 
son River with New York. In the year 1890 
the arrivals and clearances at Chicago numbered 
18472, aggregating a tonnage of 8,774,154 tons. 
About 25 per cent, of the entire lake-carrying 
trade belongs to Chicago. 

There is, moreover, connection with the Mis- 
sissippi River by way of the Illinois and Michi- 
gan Canal, the annual traffic amounting to about 
1,000,000 tons. 

In a city of such rapid growth as Chicago, 
dealing in real estate and the construction of 
buildings are important departments of business. 
Thus, in 1890 a total of 11,608 buildings were 
erected in the city, having a gross frontage of 
more than fifty miles, and costing $47,322,100. 
During the same year the transactions in real 
estate aggregated $227,486,959. 

The general business of Chicago can only be 
stated by the use of figures too vast for human 
comprehension. No man, for example, can ap- 
preciate what " a billion dollars " means. Well, 
the commerce of Chicago in 1890 amounted to 
more than that, in fact, to $1,380,000,000. Much 
of this came from the grain farms of the North- 
west, for Chicago is the greatest grain market in 
the world. According to itg Board of Trade 
reports, the city in the year 1890 received 
15,133,971 bushels of barley and shipped 
9,470,221; received 81,117,251 bushels of corn 



THE COLUMBIAN EXHIBITION. 211 

and shipped 90,556,109; received 4,358,058 bar- 
rels of flour and shipped 4,410,535; received 
13,366,699 bushels of wheat and shipped 
11,975,276; received 64,430,560 bushels of oats 
and shipped 70,768,222 ; received 2,946,720 
bushels of rye and shipped 3,280,433 ; received 
6,244,847 bushels of flaxseed and shipped 
6,594,581 ; received 72,102,031 pounds of grass 
seed and shipped 59,213,035 ; received 7,663,828 
live hogs and shipped 1,985,700; received 
77,985 pounds of pork and shipped 392,786; re- 
ceived 147,475,267 pounds of lard and shipped 
471,910,128 ; received 300,198,241 pounds of 
cured meats and shipped 823,801,460; received 
109,704,834 pounds of dressed beef and shipped 
964,134,807. 

In the same year 2,219,312 head of cattle, and 
5,733,082 hogs were slaughtered. Sales of 
lumber were 2,050,000,000 feet. The brew^eries 
produced 2,250,000 barrels of beer. The general 
jobbing trade aggregated $486,600,000, of which 
$93,7.30,000 was in dry goods, groceries coming 
next with a volume of $56,700,000 ; boots and 
shoes, $25,900,00; clothing, $21,500,000; manu- 
factured iron, $5,680,000 ; tobacco and cigars, 
$10,850,000 ; music books and sheet music, 
$22,000,000 ; books, stationery, and wall-paper, 
$25,500,000 ; pig-iron, $20,035,000 ; coal, 
$25,075,000; hardware and cutlery, $17,500,000; 
liquors, $13,800,000; jewelry, watches and dia- 



212 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

inoiids, $20,400,000, and other lines in smaller 
proportions. 

Nor does this marvellous city lag behind in 
manufactures. The statistics of 1890 show 
3,250 factories, with $190,000,000 capital; 
177,000 workmen, $96,200,000 wages, and a 
total output valued at $538,000,000. The iron 
industry alone employed 34,000 workmen, who 
received $18,500,000 in wages. 

To meet the needs of this vast volume of 
business, extensive banking facilities are re- 
quired. The total of bank clearances in Chicago 
in 1890 was $4,093,145,904. 

Figures are dry reading. But these few sta- 
tistics are necessary to show what manner of city 
is this Western metropolis in which the greatest 
exhibition of the world's industry is to be held. 
How the city was selected has already been told. 
The conditions on which the work was carried 
forward may be well explained in the words of 
of W. T. Baker, the President of the Local 
Board of Commissioners : " The Act of Congress, - 
approved April 25th, 1890, providing for the 
Exposition, states in the preamble that ' such 
an exhibition should be of a national and inter- 
national character, so that not only the people 
of our Union and this continent, but those of all 
nations as well can participate.' And to carr}'' 
out this intention the Congress provided two 
agents to do its will. The first is a commission 



THE COLUMBIAN EXHIBITION. 213 

consisting of two Commissioners from each 
State and Territory in the United States, ap- 
pointed by the President on the nomination of 
the Governors of the State and Territories re- 
spectively, and eight Commissioners-at-Large 
appointed by the President. The board 
so constituted was designated the World's 
Columbian Commission. The duties of the Com- 
mission relate to exhibits and exhibitors, or, as 
stated in the act, ' to prepare a classification of 
exhibits, determine the plan and scope of the 
Exposition, appoint all judges and examiners 
for the Exposition, award all premiums, if any, 
and generally have charge of all intercourse 
with exhibitors and representatives of foreign 
nations.' 

" The other agent recognized by the Act of 
Congress is the World's Columbian Exposition, a 
corporation organized under the laws of the 
State of Illinois. This corporation had to do 
mainly with ways and means, the erection of 
buildings, the maintenance, protection, and 
policing of the same, the granting of con- 
cessions, the collection and disbursements of all 
its revenues, and fixing the rules governing the 
Exposition. It is composed of upward of 28,000 
stockholders, and is controlled by a board 
of forty-five directors. Those directors have 
been chosen from among the active business 
men of Chicago, and are every one of them men 



214 "my country, 'tis ok thek." 

who have made an honorable success of the 
pursuits which they have followed in finance, 
commerce, and manufactures, and are giving 
their time and their best energies to the success 
of the Exposition. Their names are many of 
them known wherever American commerce has 
been permitted to extend. The Board of Di- 
rectors is divided into thirteen standing Com- 
mittees having jurisdiction over the several 
departments of the commission, and the directory 
and all expenditures are directed and scrutinized 
by them as closely as is done in the private affairs 
of the best managed mercantile establishments. 

" The jurisdiction of these two bodies, as to the 
details of the work, somewhat embarrassing at 
the outset, was settled by a compact between 
them, and they work together harmoniously 
and effectively. Under this compact fifteen 
grand departments were determined upon, the 
heads of which are appointed by the Director 
General, who is the executive bf&cer of the com- 
mission, and all expenses, except the salary of 
the Director General, are paid by the World's 
Columbian Exposition Company." 

In order that the City of Chicago might enjoy 
the honor conferred upon her by having the Ex- 
hibition held there, she was required to furnish 
an adequate site, acceptable to the National 
Commission, and $10,000,000 in money, which 
sum was, in the language of the Acts of Con- 



THE COLUMBIAN EXHIBITION. 215 

gress, considered necessary and sufficient for the 
complete preparation for the Exhibition. This 
obligation the citizens of Chicago met promptly. 
A suitable site and $10,000,000 were provided, 
and, on evidence thereof, the President of the 
United States issued his proclamation, inviting 
the nations of the earth to participate in the Ex- 
hibition. The $10,000,000 was secured^ first, by 
subscriptions to the capital stock of the corpora- 
tion to the amount of more than $5,000,000, and 
a municipal appropriation to the City of Chicago 
of $5,000,000. People of all classes subscribed 
to the capital stock, from the richest millionaires 
to the poorest wage-earners, and the entire sum 
of $5,000,000 was subscribed in a very short 
time. An additional issue of stock was made, 
and it also was rapidly taken up, until the popu- 
lar subscriptions aggregated nearly $8,000,000. 
This, with the municipal appropriation, placed 
about $13,000,000 in the treasury of the Exhibi- 
tion. But, as the work went on, the original 
plan.s were enlarged in this direction and in that, 
until it was seen that the original estimate of 
$10,000,000 was absurdly inadequate. Accord- 
ingly a loan of $5,000,000 was asked from the 
general Government, to bring the total funds up 
to $18,000,000. 

The projectors of the Exhibition estimate that 
the total receipts from admission tickets will 
amount to at least $7,000,000. This is not 



21G MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE. 

deemed excessive, as will be appreciated from the 
fact that it is at the rate of less than $1,200,000 
a month, $300,000 a week, or $50,000 a day, 
not including Sundays. The Exhibition is to 
be open at night as well as day, and in Chicago 
and within a radius of a few hours' journey from 
it there are more than 2,000,000 people to draw 
from, not taking into account visitors from a dis- 
tance. With $7,000,000 gate receipts, $2,000,000 
from salvage, and $1,000,000 from leasing of 
privileges on the grounds, the income of the 
Exhibition would reach $10,000,000. From this 
it is proposed to repay the Government its 
$5,000,000, and to divide the remainder among 
the subscribers to the capital stock. The city's 
appropriation of $5,000,000 is an absolute gift, 
and is not to be repaid. 

But even these vast sums represent only a 
portion of the money that will be expended upon 
the Columbian Exhibition. The United States 
Government will spend about $2,000,000. The 
State of Illinois appropriates about $800,000 ; 
Pennsylvania, $350,000; Iowa and Ohio, $250,- 
000 each, and the other States from that sum 
down to $100,000. The aggregate expenditures 
of the various States will, therefore, amount to 
nearly $6,000,000, or, with the National appro- 
priation, nearly $8,000,000. Foreign nations 
will expend from $4,000,000 to $5,000,000. Vast 
sums will also be contributed by private enter- 



THE COLUMBIAN EXHIBITION. 2j 7 

prise, so that it lias been not unreasonably es- 
timated that the total outlay upon the Exhibi- 
tion will be somewhere between $35,000,000 and 
$40,000,000. 

How much money will be expended in the city 
of Chicago, at the hotels and elsewhere, by visit- 
ors ; how much will be paid for railroad trans- 
portation by visitors from other parts of the 
country, and how much money will be brought 
into and spent in the United States by visitors 
from abroad, are sums that can be dealt with only 
by the most vivid imagination. Some little idea 
of them may be obtained from the following facts : 
According- to an official estimate made to the 
Department of State some years ago by a United 
States Consul in Germany, the annual amount 
of American money taken to Europe by Ameri- 
cans and spent there, for purposes of travel, pleas- 
ure, art, and education was $105,000,000. That 
was a number of years ago. The present annual 
average is probably more than $125,000,000, and 
it has been reckoned by competent judges that 
in 1889, owing to the Paris Exposition, it reached 
$200,000,000. It is reasonable to suppose that 
a very considerable return tide of wealth will, in 
1893, set toward the American shore. 

Some comparison with the World's Fairs pre- 
viously held in other countries may be of inter- 
est at this point. The acreage of the grounds 
of various Exhibitions, has been as follows : 



218 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

London, 1851, 2i>^ ; Paris, 1867, 87 ; Vienna, 
1873, 280; Philadelphia, 1876, 236; Paris, 1889, 
173 ; and Chicago, 1893, 1,037. '^^^ number of 
square feet under the roofs of the buildings are 
thus stated: London, 1851, 700,000; Paris, 1867, 
3,371,904 ; Philadelphia, 1876, 1,688,858; Paris, 
1889, 1,000,000; and Chicago, 1893, 5,000,000. 
The number of exhibitors have been : London, 
1851, 17,000; Paris, 1867, 52,000; Vienna, 1873, 
42,000; Philadelphia, 1876, 30,864; and Paris, 
1889, 55,000. The number of days on which 
the exhibitions were open, were : London, 185 1, 
144*; Paris, 1867, 217 ; Vienna, 1873, 186; Phila- 
delphia, 1876, 159 ; Paris, 1889, 183, and Chicago, 
1893, 179 days. The number of admissions in 
London in 1851, were 6,039,195; Paris, 1867, 
10,200,000; Vienna, 1873, 7,254,687; Philadel- 
phia, 1876, 9,910,996, and Paris, 1889, 28,149,353. 
Finally the receipts in London, in 185 1, were 
$1,780,000; Paris, 1867, $2,103,675; Phila- 
delphia, 1876, $3,813,724, and Paris, 1889, 
$8,300,000. 

A recent official statement of the dimensions 
of the various buildings, and the total cost of 
buildings and grounds, under the direct control 
of the Exposition management, together with the 
estimated operating expenses, is as follows : 



THE COLUMBIAN EXHIBITION. 219 

Dimensions Area in 

Buildings. in feet. acres. Cost. 

Mines and Mining, . 350X 700 5.6 $260,000 

Manufactures and 

Liberal Arts, .... 787x1687 30.5 1,000,000 

Horticultural, 250x1000 5.8 300,000 

Electricity, 345X 700 5.5 375,000 

Woman's, 200x 400 1.8 120,000 

Transportation, .... 250X 960 5.5 280,000 

Administration, .... 260X 260 1.6 450,000 

Fisli and Fisheries, . i6^x ^6^ 1.4 ] 

A / N '^ ,. ^ 1,} 200,000 
Annexes (2), . . . . 135 diam. .8 j 

Agriculture, 5oox 800 9.2 540,000 

Annex, ';28x 500 ^.8 ) 

' o J o \ 200,000 

Assembly Hall,etc. 450X 500 5.2 j 
Machinery, 5oox 800 9.8 ^ 

Annex, 490X 551 6.2 V 1,200,000 

Power Horse, 8ox 600 i.ij 

Fine Arts, 320X 500 ^.7 ] 

' ^ ^ r 500000 
Annexes (2), . . . . i20x 200 i.i ) 

Forestry, 200x 500 2.3 100,000 

Saw Mill, 125X 300 .9 35,000 

Dairy, 95X 200 .5 30,000 

Live Stock (2), . . . . 53X 330 1.3 ) 

Sheds, 40.0 ] '50,000 

Casino, i75x 300 1.2 150,000 

144.8 $5,890,000 

Grading, filling, etc., 450,000 

Landscape gardening, 323,490 



220 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

Viaducts and bridges, $125,000 

Piers, 70,000 

Waterway Improvements, 225,000 

Railways, 500,000 

Steam plant, 800,000 

Electricity, 1,500,000 

Statuary on buildings, 100,000 

Vases, lamps and posts, 50,000 

Seating, 8,000 

Water supply, sewerage, etc, 600,000 

Improvement of lake front, 200,000 

World's Congress auxiliary, 200,000 

Construction department expenses, . 520,000 

Organization and administration, . . 3,308,563 

Operating expenses, 1,550,000 

$16,420,053 
To this are to be added a few other items, 
making a total of over $17,000,000. 

The site chosen for the Columbian Exhibition 
is a truly magnificent one. No World's Fair 
ever had one surpassing if equalling it. It em- 
braces Jackson Park and Washington Park, and 
the Midway Plaisance, a strip 600 feet wide con- 
necting the two parks. Jackson Park, where 
nearly all of the buildings will be, is beautifully 
situated on the shore of Lake Michigan, having 
a lake frontage of two miles and an area of 586 
acres. Washington Park contains 371 acres, 
and the Midway Plaisance, 80 acres. Upon 



THE COLUMBIAN EXHIBITION. '221 

these parks previously to tlieir selection for the 
World's Fair site, $4,000,000 was spent in laying 
out the grounds and beautifying them. The 
Exhibition company will spend more than 
$1,000,000 additional for similar purposes. These 
parks are connected with the central portion of 
the city of Chicago and with the general park 
and boulevard system by more than 35 miles of 
boulevards from 100 to 300 feet in width. The 
Midway Plaisance is a popular driveway to the 
upper end of Jackson Park, and is a broad and 
spacious avenue richly embellished with trees 
and shrubs. The inclosed portion of it con- 
nected with the Exhibition grounds will run di- 
rectly eastward and throughout its entire length 
will present some of the most picturesque and 
novel effects of the whole fair. There will be a 
" Street in Constantinople," a '' Street in Cairo," 
and other reproductions of Old World scenes. 
There will be a most graphic reproduction of an 
American Indian camp, showing the red man in 
his natural state. Then there will be two acres 
devoted to the American Indian as he is to be seen 
under the paternal care of the government. 
Types of all the leading tribes will be portrayed 
in their native habitations and engaged in their 
characteristic industries. Thus the perspective 
along the Plaisance, whether viewed from the 
ground or from an elevation, will be a singularl}' 
attractive one. In the two parks hundreds of 



222 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

thousands of trees and shrubs have been planted 
and transplanted, so that the great Exhibition 
will have such a setting of natural beauty as 
none of its predecessors ever enjoyed. 

The engineers as well as the landscape 
gardeners and architects, have been set effec- 
tively to work. Twenty miles of water pipes 
have been laid to provide a supply of 64,000,000 
gallons daily. For supplying power to machin- 
ery there are boilers and engines of 25,000 horse- 
power and for generating electricity, 18,000 horse- 
power ; for driving small independent exhibits, 
2,000 horse-power, for pumps 2,000 horse-power 
and for compressed air, 3,000 horse-power. The 
lighting of the grounds and buildings will require 
the use of 7,000 electric arc lights and 100,000 in- 
candescent lamps. Preparations have been made 
for disposing of 6,000,000 gallons of sewage 
every 24 hours. Contracts for the work of 
construction have been let to the lowest com- 
petent bidders wherever found. They have thus 
been awarded in Philadelphia, New York, and 
Boston ; in San PVancisco, Seattle, and Omaha ; 
in Minneapolis and Duluth ; in Kansas City and 
St. Louis ; in Leavenworth and Louisville ; in 
Milwaukee, Detroit, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh ; 
in Birmingham, Alabama; in Wilmington, 
t)elaware ; in Plainfield, New Jersey ; in Jack- 
son, Michigan ; and in Stamford, Connecticut. 
This is a slieht indication of the national char- 



THE COLUMBIAN EXHIBITION. 223 

acter of the M^ork. Its international character is 
also shown by the awarding of contracts in 
London, Paris, Berlin, Rome, Edinburgh, Flor- 
ence, and Constantinople. 

But with such characteristic energy is the 
work of construction now being pushed that the 
completed buildings may be spoken of in the 
present rather than in the future tense. A brief 
description of the most important of them will 
not come here amiss : 

One of the finest structures on the Exhibition 
Grounds is the Agricultural Building, as befits 
the foremost agricultural nation on the globe. It 
stands near the shore of the lake, almost sur- 
rounded by the lagoons. The style of archi- 
tecture is classic renaissance, and the building is 
500 by 800 feet in ground area. It consists of a 
single story, with a cornice line 65 feet above 
the ground. Huge Corinthian pillars flank the 
main entrance, each 50 feet high and 5 feet in 
diameter. At each corner and from the centre 
of the building rise huge pavilions, that at the 
centre being 144 feet square. The four corner 
pavilions are connected by curtains, forming a 
continuous arcade around the top of the building. 
The main entrance leads through an opening 64 
feet wide into a vestibule, and thence into the 
rotunda, 100 feet in diameter, surmounted by a 
glass dome 130 feet high. The corner pavilions 
are surmounted by domes 96 feet high. 



224 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE.'^ 

At the soutli side of the Agricultural Build- 
ing is another vast structure, devoted principally 
to a Live Stock and Agricultural Assembly Hall. 
This is to be the common meeting-point for all 
persons interested in live stock and agricultural 
pursuits. This building contains a fine lecture- 
room, with a seating capacity of about 1,500, in 
which lectures will be delivered and conferences 
held on topics connected with live stock, agri- 
culture, and allied industries. 

The Forestry Building stands near the Agri- 
cultural Building, and is the most unique of all 
the Bxhibition structures. Its ground area is 
200 by 500 feet. On all four sides is a veranda, 
the roof of which is supported by a colonnade, 
each column of which consists of three tree- 
trunks, each 25 feet long. These trunks are in 
their natural state, with the bark undisturbed. 
They were contributed by the different States 
and Territories of the Union, and by various 
foreign countries, each furnishing specimens of 
its most characteristic trees. The walls of the 
building are covered with slabs of logs with the 
bark removed. The roof is thatched with bark. 
Within, the building is finished in a great 
variety of woods so treated as to show, to the 
best advantage, their graining, their colors, their 
susceptibility to polish, etc. It will contain a 
wonderful exhibition of forest products in 
general, doubtless the most complete ever seen 




BK.\R PIT (LINCOLN PARK). 



THE COLUMBIAN EXHIBITION. ^ 225 

in the world, including logs and sections of 
trees, worked lumber in the form of beams, 
planks, shingles, etc., dye-woods and barks, 
mosses, gums, resins, vegetable ivory, rattan, 
willow-ware, and wooden-ware generally, etc. 
There will also be a large exhibit of saw-mill 
and wood-working machinery, including four 
complete saw-mills, which will be seen in an 
annex attached to the Forestry Building. 

Close by the Forestry Building is the Dairy 
Building, which will contain not only a com- 
plete exhibit of dairy products, but also a dairy 
school, in connection with which will be con- 
ducted a series of tests for determining the rela- 
tive merits of different breeds of dairy cattle as 
producers of milk and butter. This structure 
stands near the lake shore and is 95 by 200 feet 
in area, and two stories high. On the first floor, 
besides office headquarters, there is a large room 
devoted to exhibits of butter, and further back 
an operating room, in which a model dairy will 
be conducted. On two sides of this room 
are seats for 400 spectators, to witness the 
operations of the model dairy. In a galler}' 
about this room will be the exhibits of cheese. 

The Horticultural Building stands imme- 
diately south of the entrance to Jackson Park 
from the Midway Plaisance, facing on the la- 
goon. Between it and the lagoon is a terrace 
devoted to out-door exhibits of flowers and 

15 



226 , " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

plants, including large tanks for various lilies 
and other aquatic plants. The building is i,ooo 
feet long and 250 feet wide, consisting of a 
central pavilion with two end pavilions, each of 
the latter connected with the central one by 
front and rear curtains, forming two interior 
courts, each 88 by 270 feet. These courts are 
planted with ornamental shrubs and flowers. 
Over the central pavilion rises a glass dome 187 
feet in diameter, and 113 feet high, under which 
will be exhibited the tallest palms and tree ferns 
that can be procured. The building will be de- 
voted to exhibition of flowers, plants, vines, 
seeds, horticultural implements, and all allied 
objects and industries. 

The enormous mining industries of America, 
apart from those of the rest of the world, would 
call for much space for their proper accommo- 
dation. The Hall of Mines and Mining stands 
at the southern extremity of the western lagoon, 
and is 700 feet long by 350 wide. Its archi- 
tecture is early Italian renaissance. Within it 
consists of a single story surrounded by galleries 
60 feet wide. There is thus a huge interior 
space 630 feet long and 230 feet wide, with an 
extreme height of too feet at the centre and 40 
feet at the sides. It is spanned by a steel canti- 
lever roof, abundantly lighted with glass. 

The Fine Arts Building is a noble specimen 
of classic Grecian architecture. Its area is 500 



THE COLUMBIAN EXHIBITION. 227 

by 320 feet, divided witliiu by nave and transepts 
100 feet wide and 70 feet high, at the inter- 
section of which is a dome 60 feet in diameter. 
The top of the dome is 125 feet above the 
ground, and is surmounted by a colossal statue 
representing a Winged Victory. The building 
is beautifully located in the northern part of 
the park, the south front facing the lagoon, 
from which it is separated by beautiful 
terraces, ornamented with balustrades. A 
huge flight of steps leads from the main 
entrance down to the water's edge. The north 
front faces a wide lawn and a group of State 
buildings. The grounds about it are richly 
ornamented with groups of statues, and other 
artistic works. 

The great development in late years of elec- 
trical science calls for a large building in which 
to display one of the most novel and brilliant of 
all the exhibits in the fair. The Electrical Build- 
ing, 345 feej: wide and 700 feet long, has its south 
front on the great Quadrangle, its north front 
on the lagoon, its east front toward the Manu- 
factures Building, and its west front toward the 
Hall of Mines and Mining. Its plan comprises 
a longitudinal nave 115 feet wide and 114 feet 
high, with a central transept of the same di- 
mensions. These have a pitched roof The re- 
mainder of the building, filling the external 
angles of the nave and transept, is 62 feet high 



228 " MY COUNTRY, 'tis OF THEE." 

with a flat roof. The outer walls are composed 
of a continuous series of Corinthian pilasters 
resting upon a stylobate, and supporting a mas- 
sive entablature. At the centre of the north 
side is a pavilion flanked by two towers 195 feet 
high. At its centre is a huge semicircular 
window, above which, 102 feet from the ground, 
is an open gallery commanding a splendid view 
of the lake and park. At the south • side is a 
vast niche 78 feet wide and 103 feet high, its 
opening framed by a semicircular arch. In the 
centre of this niche, upon a lofty pedestal, is a 
colossal statue of Franklin. The east and west 
central pavilions are composed of towers 168 feet 
high. At each of the four corners of the build- 
ing is a pavilion with a tower 169 feet high. 
The building also bears 54 lofty masts, from 
which banners will be displayed by day and 
electric lamps at night. 

The Fisheries Building consists of a large 
central structure with two smallei; polygonal 
buildings connected with it on either end by 
arcades. The total length is 1,100 feet, and the 
width 200 feet. In the central portion will be 
the general fisheries exhibit ; in one of the 
polygonal buildings the angling exhibit, and in 
the other the aquaria. The external architect- 
ure is Spanish Romanesque. The ingenuity of 
the architect has designed after fishes and other 
sea forms all the capitals, medallions, brackets. 



THE COLUMBIAN EXHIBITION. 229 

cornices, and other ornamental details. The 
aquaria will contain about 140,000 gallons of 
water, 40,000 of it being salt. They will con- 
sist of a series of ten tanks, with glass fronts to 
afford an easy view of their contents. 

The contribution of the United States Naval 
Department is one of the most novel ever seen 
at any World's Fair. It is comprised in a struc- 
ture which, to all outward appearance, is one of 
the newest and most powerful ships of war. 
This is, however, only an imitation battle-ship, 
composed of masonry and resting on piling in 
the lake. It has all the fittings that belong to 
an actual ship, such as guns, turrets, torpedo 
tubes, nets and booms, anchors, chain cables, 
davits, awnings, smoke-stacks, a military mast, 
etc., together with all appliances for working the 
same. Near the top of the military masts are 
shelters for sharpshooters in which are mounted 
rapid firing guns. The battery consists of four 
13-inch breech loading rifles, eight 8-inch rifles, 
four 6-inch rifles, twenty 6-pounder rapid firing 
guns, six i-pound rapid firing guns, two Gatling 
guns, and six torpedo tubes. These are all 
placed and mounted exactly as in a genuine 
battle-ship. All along the starboard side is a 
torpedo protection net. The entire structure is 
348 feet long and 69 feet 3 inches wide. It will 
be manned during the Exhibition by ofiicers and 
men detailed by the Navy Department who will 



230 "my country, 'tis of thee." 

give boat, torpedo, and gun drills and maintain 
the discipline and mode of life to be observed on 
the real vessels of the Navy, 

The Woman's Building, which was fittingly 
designed by a woman, is architecturally one of 
the most attractive. It is encompassed by lux- 
uriant shrubbery and beds of flowers with a 
background of stately forest trees, and faces the 
great lagoon. Between the building and the 
lagoon are two terraces ornamented with balus- 
trades and crossed by splendid flights of steps. 
The principal facade of the building is 400 feet 
long and the depth of the building is 200 feet. 
The architecture is Italian renaissance. The 
main grouping consists of a centre pavilion, 
flanked at each end by corner pavilions, con- 
nected in the first story by open arcades in the 
curtains, forming a shaded promenade extending 
the whole length of the building. The structure 
throughout is two stories high, with a total ele- 
vation of 60 feet. At the centre is a fine 
rotunda, 65 by 70 feet, crowned with a richly 
ornamented skylight. The building contains a 
model hospital, a model kindergarten, a model 
kitchen, a library, refreshment rooms, a great 
assembly room, and other departments for dis- 
playing the varied industries in which women 
are especially interested. 

It is impossible here to describe in detail the 
architectural features or the marvellous contents 



THE COLUMBIAN EXHIBITION. 231 

of the great Machinery Hall. It is one of the 
most splendid structures on the grounds, measur- 
ing 850 by 500 feet in ground area, and standing 
at the extreme south end of the Park, just south 
of the Administration Building, and west from the 
Agricultural Building, from which it is sepa- 
rated by a lagoon. The general design of its 
interior is that of three enormous railroad train 
houses side by side, each spanned by trussed 
arches, and surrounded on all four sides by a 
gallery, 50 feet wide. The bulk of the machinery 
exhibited will be placed in this edifice and its 
large annex. 

The building devoted to displa3^s of Manu- 
factures and Liberals Arts is the largest of all. 
Its ground area measures 1,687 by 787 feet, or 
nearly 3 1 acres. Within a gallery 50 feet wide 
extends around all the four sides, and projecting 
from this are 86 smaller galleries, 12 feet wide. 
These are reached from the main floor by 30 
staircases, each 12 feet wide. An aisle 50 feet 
wide, called Columbia Avenue, extends from end 
to end of the building, and a transept of similar 
width crosses it at the centre. The main roof is of 
iron and glass, and its ridge pole is 1 50 feet from 
the ground. It covers an area 1,400 by 385 feet. 
The actual floor space of the building, includ- 
ing galleries, is about 40 acres. The general 
style of architecture is Corinthian, with almost 
endless arrays of columns and arches. There 



232 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

are four great entrances, one in the centre of each 
facade. These have the appearance of triumphal 
arches, the central opening of each being 40 feet 
wide and 80 feet high. Above each is a great 
attic story, ornamented with sculptured eagles 18 
feet high. At each corner of the building is a 
pavilion with huge arched entrances correspond- 
ing in design with the principal portals of the 
building. This stately edifice faces the lake, 
with only lawns and promenades between it and 
the water. North of it is the United States 
Government Building, south of it the harbor and 
injutting lagoon, and west of it the Electrical 
Building and the lagoon separating it from the 
great island. 

The Transportation exhibit is one of the most 
interesting of the whole displa}-, and is housed 
in a huge Romanesque building, standing between 
the Horticultural and Mining Buildings. It faces 
the east and commands a fine view of the lagoon 
and great island. Its area measures 960 by 250 
feet, besides a vast annex covering 9 acres more. 
The principal entrance to the building is through 
a huge arch, very richly decorated. Within the 
building is treated after the manner of a Roman 
Basilica, with broad nave and aisles. At the 
centre is a cupola rising 165 feet above the ground, 
and reached by eight elevators. The exhibits in 
this building and its annex will comprise every- 
thing pertaining to transportation, including all 



THE COLUMBIAN EXHIBITION. 233 

manner of railroad engines and cars, steamboats 
and other vessels, coaches, cabs and carriage 
balloons and carrier pigeons, bicycles and baby 
carriages, cash conveyors for stores, pneumatic 
tubes, passenger and freight elevators, etc. 

The United States Government Building stands 
near the lake shore, south of the main lagoon. 
Its architecture is classic, resembling the National 
Museum and other Government Buildings at 
Washington. It is made of iron, brick, and glass 
and measures 350 by 420 feet. At the centre is 
an octagonal dome, 120 feet in diameter and 150 
feet high. The south half of the building is 
devoted to exhibits of the Post Ofiice, Treasury, 
War, and Agricultural Departments. The north 
half is given up to the Interior Department, the 
Smithsonian Institute, and the Fisheries Com- 
mission. The State Department exhibit is 
between the rotunda and the east, and the 
Department of Justice between the rotunda and 
the west end. The rotunda itself will be kept 
clear of all exhibits. 

The gem of all the buildings is that occupied by 
the Administration of the Exhibition. It stands 
at the west end of the great court, looking east- 
ward, j ust in front of the railroad stations. It 
covers an area 260 feet "square and consists of four 
pavilions, each 84 feet square, connected by a 
vast central dome 120 feet in diameter and 220 
feet high, leaving at the centre of each facade 



234 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

a recess of 82 feet wide within which are 
the grand entrance to the building. The 
general design is in the style of the French 
renaissance. The first story is Doric, of heroic 
proportions, and the second Ionic. The four 
great entrances are each 50 feet wide and 50 feet 
high, deeply recessed and covered by semicircu- 
lar arches. The great dome, v/hich will be one 
of the most striking features in the landscape of 
the Exhibition, is richly gilded externally. 
Within it is decorated with a profusion of sculp- 
ture and paintings. 

The Illinois State Building is naturally by far 
the finest of all the structures erected by the 
various States of the Union. It stands on a high 
terrace in one of the choicest parts of Jackson 
Park, commanding a splendid view of the grounds. 
It is 450 feet long and 160 feet wide. At the 
north Memorial Hall forms a wing 50 by 75 
feet. At the south is another wing, 75 by 123 
feet, three stories high, containing the executive 
offices and two large public halls. Surmounting 
the central portion of the building is a fine dome 
72 feet in diameter and 235 feet high. The 
entire edifice is constructed, almost exclusively, 
of wood, stone, brick, and steel produced by the 
State of Illinois. 

No sketch of the Columbian Exhibition would 
be complete without some mention of its prin- 
cipal projectors and managers. The President 



THE COLUMBIAN EXHIBITION. 



235 



of the World's Fair Columbian Commission is 
Thomas Wetherill Palmer, who was born at 
Detroit, Michigan, on June 25th, 1830. He is 
of New England descent and his parents were 
among the early settlers in Michigan. Mr. 
Palmer was educated at St. Clair College and 
the University of Michigan, and after his col- 
lege days made a 
long pedestrian 
tour through 
Spain, thus be- 
coming familiar 
with the country 
to which he was 
afterward sent as 
United States 
Minister. After 
some years of 
prosperous mer- 
cantile life in 
Detroit, and hon- 
orable participa- 
tion in State politics he was elected United States 
Senator and served six years. In 1889 he was 
made Minister to Spain. At the first meeting 
of the World's Fair Columbian Commission, 
held in Chicago on June 26th, 1890, he was 
unanimously elected President and at once en- 
tered upon the duties of the office. 

Women and their work will be more conspicu- 




GEN. THOS. W. PALMER, PRESIDENT NA- 
TIONAL COMMISSION, world's COL- 
UMBIAN EXPOSITION. 



236 



" MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 



ously represented at this Exhibition than at any 
of its predecessors, and there has therefore 
fittingly been formed a Board of Lady Managers. 
At its first session, on November 20th, 1890, 
Mrs. Potter Palmer, of Chicago, was unanimously 
elected President. She was born at Louisville, 

Kentucky, her 
maiden name 
being Bertha 
Honore, and she 
was educated at 
Louisville and 
Baltimore, 
Maryland. She 
was married in 
1871 to Potter 
Palmer, one of 
the foremost 
business men 
of Chicago, and 
has since been 
one of the most 




MRS. POTTER PALMER, PRESIDENT OF WOMAN'S 
NATIONAL COMMISSION. 



prominent and 
most admired leaders of society in that city, 
besides being identified with innumerable 
benevolent and educational enterprises. 

The Director-General of the Exhibition, its 
chief executive of&cer, upon whom the real re- 
sponsibility for the conduct of the World's Fair 
rests, is Col. George R. Davis, of Chicago. He 



THE COLUMBIAN EXHIBITION. 



237 



was born in Massachnsetts in 1840, and was 
educated in the schools of that State. Early 
in the war of the Rebellion, he became a vol- 
unteer in the Union Army and served through 
the entire struggle with great distinction. In 
187 1 he retired from military service and en- 
tered business life in Chicago, where he was 
eminently 
s uccessful. 
In 1878 he 
was elected to 
Congress and 
was re-elected 
in 1880 and 
1882, and in 
the fall ot 
1886 he was 
elected Treas- 
urer of Cook 
County, Illi- 
nois, wnicn m- ^^^ GEORGE R. DAVIS, DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF 
eludes the City the world's Columbian exposition, 

of Chicago. 

The President of the Directory of the World's 
Columbian Exhibition is W. T. Baker, a promi- 
nent commission merchant of Chicago, who 
was born in New York State in 184 1. He has 
been elected and re-elected President of the 
Chicago Board of Trade. 

Benjamin Butterworth, of Ohio, was chosen 




238 



" MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 



Secretary of the World's Columbian Exposition- 
He lias for years been known as one of the most 
brilliant men in the National House of Repre- 
sentatives at Washington. During the debate 
in Congress on the question of an appropriation 
for the National Fair Commission he spoke 
strongly in favor of such an appropriation, and 

it was owing 
chiefl}^ to his ef- 
forts that it was 
finally passed. 

The Hon. 
John T. Dickin- 
son, Secretary 
of the World's 
Columbian 
Com mission, 
was born in 
1858, at Hous- 
ton, Texas, and 
has for some 
years been a 
conspicuous 
lawyer, editor, and politician in that State, 

The head of the Department of Publicity and 
Promotion of the Exhibition is Major ]\Ioses T. 
Handy, one of the best known newspaper men 
in the United States. He was born in Alissouri 
in 1847, ^^^ ^^^ educated in Virginia, and has 
had a brilliant career as a journalist on the staffs 




PRESIDENT W. T. BAKER, OF THE WORLD'S 

COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION. 



THE COLUMBIAN EXHIBITION. 239 

of the Richmond Dispatch^ Richmond Inquirer^ 
New York Tribune, Philadelphia Times, Phila- 
delphia Press, and Philadelphia News. 

The Exhibition is to be formally dedicated 
with appropriate ceremonies on October 12th, 
1892, being the 400th anniversary of the land- 
ing of Columbus. It will not be opened to the 
public, however, for the general purposes of the 
Exhibition until May ist, 1893, and it will con- 
tinue open from that day until October 30th, 1893. 
During its progress there will be held on its 
grounds and in its buildings innumerable conven- 
tions and festivals of national and international 
interest, and it will doubtless be a more truly uni- 
versal exhibition than any that has yet been 
held in the world. The spirit animating the 
projectors of the enterprise cannot perhaps be 
better expressed than they were by President 
Palmer in his eloquent address before the Col- 
umbian Commission in Chicago, on June 26th, 
1890. " Education," he said, " is the chief safe- 
guard for the future ; not education through 
books alone, but through the commingling of our 
people from East, West, North, and South, from 
farm and factory. Such great convocations • as 
that of our projected fair are the schools where- 
in our people shall touch elbows, and the 
men and women from Maine and Texas, from 
Washington and South Carolina learn to realize 
that all are of one blood, speak the same Ian- 



240 " MY COUNTRY, ^TIS 6P TH^E." 

guage, worship one God, and salute the same 
flag. 

" If we are to remain a free people, if the 
States are to retain their autonomy, if we are to 
take a common pride in the name of American, 
if we are to avoid the catastrophe of former 
years Americans must commingle, be brought in 
contact, and acquire that mutual sympathy that 
is essential in a harmonious family. Isolated, 
independent travel may do this, but not to any 
such extent as will be accomplished b}'- gather- 
ings like this, where millions will concentrate 
to consult and compare the achievements of each 
other, and of those from across the sea. All 
must have observed the effect of the Centennial 
Exhibition in educating even what are called 
educated people, and in the impetus derived 
therefrom. It gave to all a larger outlook, it 
repressed egotism, quickened sympathies, and 
set us to thinking. 

" It has been well said that the ' Industrial 
Bxpositions are the mile-stones of progress, the 
measure of the dimensions of the productive 
activity of the human race. They cultivate 
taste, they bring nations closer to one another, 
and thus promote civilization, they awaken new 
wants and lead to an increased demand, they con- 
tribute to a taste for art, and thus encourage the 
genius of artists.' 

" And this is civilization — a process by which 



THE COLUMBIAN EXHIBITION. 241. 

the citizens of each State, foreign as well as 
domestic, will learn their inter-dependence npon 
each other. Many will come from selfish motives, 
possibly, but the social atmosphere they will 
here breathe ; that undefinable influence which 
pervades and affects people who come together 
in masses with a common purpose, will broaden 
them and teach them that discussion and not 
violence is the proper way to a:djust differences or 
promote objects — and thus prepare humanity for 
that good time so long coming. 

" The world will come to us, by its represen- 
tatives, if not en masse^ and our own people 
should be drawn to this great school of the citizen 
by every device which can be imagined and 
afforded, while it remains for all connected with 
this management to see that no just expectation 
shall be disappointed. 

" In other times there were convocations where 
the spirit of rivalry and comparison appeared, 
but in them few were invited to participate, and 
only a limited number of spectators could afford 
to attend. In those tournaments muscle was of 
more importance than mind. Those exhibitions 
taught how to destroy, and not how to create. 
The rivalry now is in methods to create and not 
to destroy, and the knights who participate are 
those of the active brain and cunning hand, 
whose spectators and judges are the better be- 
haved and better educated citizens of to-day. 

16 



242 MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE. 

" This Exposition — on a new site, in a new 
world — assumes greater dimensions than a mar- 
ket for merchandise or than figures of finance. 
We should make it a congress of the nations 
wherein agriculture, manufactures, and commerce 
should be the handmaids of ideas — w^here art 
should paint the allegory of Peace and chisel the 
statue Fraternit}^ — where music should play a 
dirge to dead hastes and an epithalamium on the 
marriage of the nations. 

" Our country has led the advance in peaceful 
arbitration. The Geneva Commission, the Fish- 
eries Commission in the settlement of difficulties 
already existing, the Pan-American Congress 
has opened the way for the peaceful settlement 
of questions that may arise hereafter to the peo- 
ple of the hemisphere. I regard these great 
achievements of our capital government as more 
illustrious than any act of any government since 
our great Civil War. 

" Let the Exposition be fruitful in profit, not 
only to the exhibitors, but to all comers, and that 
they shall carry away a higher conception of the 
duty of the citizen and the mission of the State. 
Our material power is ver}^ great, too great for 
us to act on any other plane than the highest. 
Our resources and capacity to meet our financial 
obligations are a wonder to the powers of the old 
world. It should be our aim to make our moral 
altitude on all public questions, national or inter- 



THE COLUMBIAN EXHIBITION. 243 

national, as unassailable as our monetary credit. 
Our bonds are Higher in the markets of the world 
than any other — our opinions and acts should, 
relatively, hold as high a place. 

" The first 400 years have passed — they have 
been illuminated by the heroic deeds of men and 
women, and shaded by crimes, national and in- 
dividual. The descendants of the Puritans and 
Cavalier, of the Huguenet and the Catholic, of 
the slave and the Indian, together with those 
from other continents and the isles of the sea 
meet in peaceful rivalry where the forest fades 
away and the prairie expands. 

" At last we are a nation with common in- 
heritance. Lexington and Yorktown, Bunker 
Hill and Butaw, Saratoga and Guildford Court 
House, New Orleans and Plattsburg, are our 
common glory. 

" We have people to the north and south who 
can be linked to us with hooks of steel if we 
continue to retain their respect and confidence. 
I want no forcible addition to our territory, were 
it practicable. I want them to come as a bride 
comes to her husband — in love and confidence — 
and because they wish to link their fortunes 
Math ours, to make their daily w^alk b}- our side. 
To bring about this consummation will be the 
work of time, of forbearance, of rigid obser- 
vance of their rights, of due regard for their 
prejudices, of an unselfish desire for welfare — 



244 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

wherein all the amenities of life shall be culti- 
vated. We must enforce their respect by order 
at our own home, and show them that our com- 
posite civilization — wherein we select all that is 
good from abroad, and retain all that is good in 
our own, is calculated to make them also happier 
and greater. 

" Should this occasion, this National Expo- 
sition, promote such •a purpose as if we are 
rightly inspired, this meeting of all people would 
be more than a financial success — more than a 
vain commercial triumph. It would emphasize 
the new era, which I hope is dawning, and take 
the initiative in what may result in the federation 
of this hemisphere." 

Thus the Columbian Exhibition will nobly 
close the first four centuries of American history, 
and by the splendor of its display shed brilliant 
rays upon the unknown years and centuries to 
come. The future must be estimated from the 
past and the present. As the present is grander 
than the past, so, may we hope, will the future 
be grander than the present. 

Mr. Chauncey M. Depew has drawn this com- 
parison most graphically. 

" At the time of the Centennial Exhibition we 
had 45,000,000 people ; now our numbers reach 
the grand total of 64,000,000. Then we had 
thirty-seven States, but we have since added seven 
stars to our flag. Then the product of our farms 



THE COLUMBIAN EXHIBITION. 245 

in cereals was about $2,200,000,000 ; now it is 
over $4,000,000,000. Then the output of our 
factories was about $5,000,000,000 ; now it is over 
$7,000,000,000. Such progress, such develop- 
ment, such advance, such accumulation of wheat 
and the opportunities for wealth — wealth in the 
broad sense, which opens new avenues for em- 
ployment and fresh chances for independence 
and for homes — have characterized no other 
similar period of recorded time. 

" The Columbian World's Exposition will be 
international because it will hospitably welcome 
and entertain the people and the products of 
every nation in the world. It will give to them 
the fullest opportunity to teach us, and learn 
from us, and to open new avenues of trade with 
our markets, and discover materials which will 
be valuable in theirs. But its creation, its 
magnitude, its location, its architecture, and its 
striking and enduring features will be American. 
The city in which it is held, taking rank among 
the first cities in the world after an existence of 
only fifty years, is American. The great inland 
fresh-water sea, whose waves will dash against 
the shores of Jackson Park is American. The 
prairie, extending westward with its thousands 
of square miles of land, a half century ago a 
wilderness, but to-day gridironed with railroads, 
spanned with webs of electric wires, rich in 
prosperous farms, growing villages, ambitious 



246 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

cities, and an energetic, educated, and progressive 
people is purely American. 

"The Centennial Exhibition of 1876 cele- 
brated the first hundred years of independence of 
the Republic of the United States. The Colum- 
bian Exhibition celebrates the discovery of a 
continent which has become the home of peoples 
of every race, the refuge for those persecuted on 
account of their devotion to civil and religious 
liberty, and the revolutionary factor in the affairs 
of this earth, a discovery which has accomplished 
more for humanity in its material, its intellec- 
tual, and its spiritual aspects than all other events 
since the advent of Christ." 



CHAPTER VI. 
society's foundation-stone. 

There ought to be a radical change in mar- 
riage customs in the United States, if we would 
avoid a terrible deterioration of social life. 

In the early days of our country, when most 
of the inhabitants were representatives of the 
classes which have supplied populations for all 
new countries, marriage, as among the lower 
order of peasantry everywhere else in the world, 
and among the savages besides, was a mere mat- 
ing of male and female. Women were brought 
over by shiploads to be disposed of, as wives, to 
the earlier Virginia planters ; no stories have 
come down to us of cruelties or mismatings, yet 
the transactions were as plainly a matter of pur- 
chase and sale as any in the subsequent trade in 
black slaves. The rapid settlement of the countr}^, 
the improvement in civilization, which has come 
through the multiplication of large villages and 
of cities, the general facilities for obtaining edu- 
cation, such as exist in no other country, have 

247 



248 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

made ours the land above all others in which 
generations may rise rapidly from the social posi- 
tion of their ancestors. Consequently there is no 
part of the world in which the marriage relation 
should be so closely guarded as here. 

Does this seem over particular, in this land of 
freedom and era of emancipation from narrow 
views ? Then look carefully over a list of the 
richest and most influential men who have come 
to the front within the past few years, particu- 
larly in the newer States ; regard their marital 
relations — this will do no harm to any of them 
who are respectable — and consider the nature of 
the influence which these people exert upon 
society around them. The subject is not easy or 
pleasant to discuss, but, fortunately, there are not 
many people who cannot discuss it for them- 
selves. 

To expect to bring about the desired change 
by religious means, which are the first to sug- 
gest themselves either to the Christian or the 
philosopher, is impossible. However desirable it 
may be our political system has made it impossible 
for us as a body of people to go back to the customs 
of a period which was superior to ours in regard 
to the sanctity of marriage relations. However 
much these relations may be regarded as sac 
raments by some, and as specially sanctified hy 
others, the making of the marriage relation a 
matter of mere civil contract has become so gen- 



SOCIETY'S FOUNDATION-STONE. 249 

erally a fact in law that it is impossible any 
longer to expect the majority of people to abide by 
the precedents and customs of different churches. 
The fact is, the churches don't do it themselves. 
Divorced people who have no moral right to re- 
marry are cpntinually taking new partners and 
ministers are performing the ceremony. 

The danger, aside from easy divorce, of which 
more anon, is in the probable change of social 
condition of the contracting parties. Men and 
women, mating in their very early years, as is 
the custom in all small villages and agricultural 
districts, frequently find themselves, by some 
happy accident, raised to a higher degree of finan- 
cial standing than they had expected, and in the 
newer portions of the country, which contain 
a large majority of our population, such change 
of material condition carries social importance 
and influence with it. As would be the case any- 
where else in the world, the change of condition 
shows itself differently in man and woman. The 
man of means quickly finds himself a man of 
mark among his fellows, and rapidly receives a 
vast amount of that valuable education which 
comes from what some philosopher has called " the 
attrition of minds." His wife, relieved of the 
drudgery which is almost inseparable from pov- 
erty, does not follow her husband intellectually, 
unless such is her natural bent. She consequently 
devotes her leisure and improved material condi- 



250 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

tion to luxury and to show. From this difference 
of conditions in a family which was once united 
can be found the basis of many thousands of 
divorce suits. 

You take exception to the expression "intel- 
lectual?" You are wrong. I know it is the fash- 
ion to regard literature, law, theology and other 
so-called learned professions as sole possessors 
of the world's intellect, but this is all nonsense. 
It requires just as much intellect — intellect of 
just as high order — to put a railroad through 
a new country, or to invent a new threshing 
machine, or to manage a turbulent town-meeting, 
or to work a bill through the Legislature, as to 
write a poem, sermon, or novel, or to plead a case 
in court. Edison and Ericsson are as much men 
of intellect as Longfellow or Lowell ; the differ- 
ence in their lives is one of taste and detail — 
not of brain and intellectual endeavor. The posi- 
tion in which money places a man anywhere, ex- 
cept in the large cities — and it isn't safe to except 
these much — compels him to use his intellect a 
great deal, and to sharpen it frequently Unless 
his wife is his partner in every sense of the word, 
she is going to be left behind. That is not the 
worst of it ; there are plenty of bright women 
lying in wait for the man who has plenty of 
money and a stupid wife. 

Among those not yet married the same danger 
is ever apparent. Men have always been guided 



society's foundation-stone. 251 

more by impulse than reason in the selection of 
their mates, and to this day philosophers often 
marry fools. Consequently it is not surprising 
that young men of strong natural intelligence 
and great energy, M^ho nevertheless have not 
yet received their fair start in life or developed 
their powers to the uttermost, select their brides 
through some mere fancy or caprice, which might 
never lead to bad results were their condition in 
life always to remain as it was in the beginning. 
But the reports of hundreds of divorce cases, 
which have amused the public to some extent, 
disgusted it still more, and horrified the thinking 
portion, show that alleged incompatibilities are 
generally the results of changes of condition, 
which have caused husband and wife to drift 
apart for reasons not at all related to the conj ugal 
state. 

It would be natural to suppose that the churches 
would give the subject special atteution, the 
world's morality being more dependent upon 
proper marriage than all other influences com- 
bined, religion itself not excepted. Well, the 
church does something in this direction. It does 
a great deal, but not one-thousandth part of what 
is necessary, A pastor of no matter what de- 
nomination gladly welcomes the opportunity, 
which, nevertheless, is seldom made by himself, 
to urge upon young people the seriousness of the 
marriage relation, the necessity of affection, con- 



252 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

stancy and forbearance, and to show them to the 
best of his ability glowing pictures of the final 
results of conjugal faithfulness. But constant 
warning's, such as are given against a great many 
sins of less serious influence upon the world, are 
seldom heard in churches. Homilies on the sub- 
ject of marriage are ordered by some denomina- 
tions to be delivered once in three months. If 
they were heard once in three days their injunc- 
tions would be none too frequent for the necessi- 
ties of the great mass of people who are most 
interested in the marriage relation, or, at least, 
most curious about it. 

A happy wife, happy during and after half a 
lifetime spent in wedlock which did not escape 
the usual number of family troubles and sorrows, 
said once to me that the trouble with marriage 
was that conjugal impulse and conjugal sense 
were the scarcest faculties of the feminine nature. 
I would not dare quote this if it were not said by 
a woman instead of a man. Desiring at times to 
raise expectant brides to the highest sense of 
their coming responsibilities and privileges, but 
reluctant to put her own heart upon her sleeve, 
she tried to find something in print to give them 
by way of counsel and admonition, but she did 
not succeed. Novels about love and marriage 
can be found by the thousands. How many of 
them are of any value at all for purposes of in- 
struction and forewarning ? I leave the answer 



society's foundation-stone. 253 

to women who most read novels. From those 
who are mothers I have never been able to obtain 
the names of a half dozen. 

There seems to be such a thing as inheritance 
by sex. Woman was for thousands of years the 
slave or the plaything of man, and she is uncon- 
sciously but terribly avenging herself for the 
wrongs done her by the ruder sex. The best she 
could hope for in earlier days, the best that many 
of her sex now dare hope for, is home, protection 
and kind treatment. The kindness may be that 
the man shows to his horse or his dog, perhaps 
to his friend, but the fact that the woman is to be 
legally his equal, the appreciation of this, is as 
rare as the resolve of the woman herself to make 
herself equal to the position. 

What is the result ? Why, girls, sweet girls, 
girls whom good men regard as only a little lower 
than the angels, often marry for causes which 
should not justify any but the commonest women 
in marrying at all. A girl whom all of us adore 
for her goodness, delicacy and sweetness, sud- 
denly appalls us some day by accepting as her 
husband some gross fellow who has nothing but 
his pocket-book to recommend him. Were she 
to attach herself to him without marriage vows 
and ceremony, although perhaps with absolute 
honesty of devotion and singleness of purpose, 
the world would be horrified. Yet where is the 
difference as regards her own life ? Many other 



254 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

women know, if she does not, that no elaborate- 
ness of ceremony or solemnity can ever make a 
perfect marriage between a woman and a boor. 
Yet the old story of " Beanty and the Beast" is 
repeated every day a thousand times, except that 
the fairy touch which transformed the beast into 
a gentleman never occurs nowadays — except in 
novels. 

There is prevalent a stupid notion, born of vul- 
gar natures, too vulgar to understand that the 
Almighty never endowed humanity with any 
quality which had not a noble purpose, that it is 
not safe to let young people know or think any- 
thing about the realities of marriage. People 
allude at once to fixed passion as if the only 
passion possible to the marriage state were physi- 
cal, and as if the companionship, sympathy, de- 
votion, tenderness and continuity of a friendship 
solemnly pledged for life, a friendship of a char- 
acter that children instinctively long for and 
youths desire more earnestly than all things else 
combined, never entered into the thoughts of 
young people. This is an insulting imputation 
upon your children and mine and of every other 
man's beside. 

Strong sense of duty may do much to correct 
the ruinous notion of young M'omen regarding 
marriage, but it is not enough in itself Women 
of strong sense of duty are probably commoner 
than men with the same desirable qualification. 



society's foundation-stone. 255 

Yet all of us know of men who have strayed from 
married mates who were pure, faithful, and duti- 
ful — well, everything that a conscientious servant 
could be. But, if a man's wife is no more to him 
than a first-class servant, she cannot prevent him 
yielding to temptation if he is so disposed. No 
man worthy of the name marries for the sake of 
obtaining a servant. It is far more convenient, 
besides infinitely cheaper, to obtain servants and 
housekeepers through the ordinar}^ channels. 
Religion is the strongest influence for good that 
humanity knows, but religion alone cannot make 
a perfect wife of a well-meaning woman. There 
is no condition of life in w^hich one virtue can be 
successfully substituted for another, and no 
amount of prayer and faith can make a good 
wife of a good woman without distinct conjugal 
impulse and purpose. 

Neither can the maternal instinct, an honest 
impulse which of itself has made wives of many 
good women, who otherAvise never would have 
married at all. To be the mother of a man's 
children should and ma}^ entitle a woman to high 
respect, but many Mormons, who heartily respect 
their wives, do not hesitate to seek companionship 
of other women. 

A womar needs the conjugal instinct to make 
a good wife of herself and a happy and faithful 
man. of her husband. If it is not in her she 
should acquire it before giving her hand and life 



256 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THKK/' 

to any man. The better the man, the more per- 
sistently should she hesitate before marrying 
without this requisite quality. The mother who 
does not inculcate the necessity of this impulse 
and quality is more remiss of her duty than if 
she left her children's stockings undarned and 
their dinners uncooked. 

As nearly all affection concerns itself with the 
relations of the sexes, and particularly with what 
is alleged to be love, it is commonly assumed that 
young women are sufficiently instructed through 
desultory reading on what is frequently called 
the grand passion. This appellation, " grand 
passion," truly describes what the novelists 
usually give us as love, and is no more education 
or preparation of the young person contemplat- 
ing marriage than the outside of a lot of school- 
books would be to a student desiring to graduate 
at a college. The novelist prudently ends his 
story where marriage begins. Up to that time 
everything is very plain sailing for both man 
and woman, but there, where the necessity for 
knowledge begins, the novelist discreetly ends 
his tale. How can he do more ? Were he to 
make his story as it should be, in the light of 
human experience, it is doubtful whether young 
men and young women would read it at all. 

Is all the blame of marriage failures to be at- 
tributed to women ? By no means. The men 
are terribly faulty creatures, but it is the generaJ 



society's foundation-stone. 257 

opinion that, tlirougH some reason or collection 
of reasons, the conjugal instinct in man is more 
fully developed than in woman. Most of us know 
of men not very good, some of them not good at 
all, who become model husbands from the time 
of marriage. How many know of wild women, 
of careless girls, of whom the same could be 
said ? Whether this is due to the invisible con- 
nection between the material and the spiritual; 
whether woman's nature is kept in an embryonic 
state to the verge of deterioration by the modern 
custom of bringing up girls in-doors, denying 
them physical exercise, separating them from as- 
sociations with their brothers, to say nothing of" 
other members of the ruder sex ; whether the 
increasing prosperity of the world, which makes 
it no longer necessary that the entire interests 
of the family, including some of the confidences 
between husband and wife, should be heard by 
children as once they were, the fact certainly is 
that the opinion which the young girl at the 
present day has of matrimony is one of the most 
appallingly inaccurate notions that can be en- 
countered in conversation anywhere. 

Then how is the desired change to be brought 
about ? Only through public sentiment, in which 
the churches ought to take the lead. Marriage 
by accident, which is the common method, should 
be frowned upon and discouraged, no matter how 
romantic or " cunning " the preliminaries may 

17 



258 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

seem. Everybody knows that men never enter 
into a business partnership, wbicli may be tenni- 
nated at any time, without some sense of the fitness 
and compatibility of the contracting parties. 
Were they to fail in this respect, all of their friends 
would protest, and all of their acquaintances 
would make fun of them. Both parties would 
suffer in business reputation by such a blunder. 
It should be the same, though far more earnestly, 
regarding the life-partnership that is formed at a 
wedding. All relatives of the contracting parties 
have at\ast one interest at stake which justifies 
^hem in protesting against a blunder— I allude 
to family reputation. 

Then aren't young, tender, loving hearts to be 
allowed to choose for themselves? Nonsense! 
How much of love, in the true meaning of the 
word, is to be found in the great majority of 
marriages? If men, as a class, loved their 
sweethearts as much as they loved their dogs, 
there would be less ground for complaint ; but 
men seldom tire of their dogs ; who is there that 
does not know men who tire of their wives ? 

Am I harping again upon woman's failure to 
remain dear to her husband ? No ; but I do say 
that the girl who makes the " best match," as the 
saying is, and by marrying money mames above 
her station, is accepting more than she may after- 
' ward be able to live up to. Marriages should be 
between equals— persons who are competent to 



society's foundation-stone. 259 

support one auother iu any aud every condition 
to which their material life can ever lead them. 

As for men, the greatest sinners, though not 
the greatest sufferers, by marriage blunders, the 
man who marries except with the idea of 
making his wife his closest companion, should 
be regarded by all his acquaintances a deliberate 
scoundrel. A chance passion is no excuse for 
marriage ; neither is a condescending pity. The 
man who marries merely for the sake of getting 
a permanent cook, housekeeper or plaything, is 
equally a scoundrel, and deserves more earnest 
and general execration than if he entered into 
familiar relations with a woman without the for- 
mality of marriage. The whole community 
should be on guard against man or woman who 
makes any less of marriage ties than the highest 
honor demands. • 

Some people whose conjugal relations are ir- 
regular, are irreproachable otherwise, do you 
say ? Yes ; but you can say as much about some 
thieves and forgers ; except for their one fault 
they are good fellows. The moral influence upon 
the community of an unfaithful or careless hus- 
band or wife is worse than that of a common 
criminal, for there is no fixed passion in human 
nature that causes people's minds to dwell upon 
theft or forgery or murder, and to make excuses 
for the persons who are guilty of them. 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE DEMON OF DIVORCE. 

In one of the older theological periods, yet not 
so very old, there was a theory that Satan was a 
necessary part of the godhead. At present there 
seems to be a theory like unto it. It is that 
divorce is a necessary feature of the marriage 
system. 

This notion is working fully as much mischief 
in morals and manners as Satan could do if he 
were part of Omnipotence. 

Dinorce is popular with certain classes, be- 
cause married life — not marriage — is sometimes 
a failure, but the fault is not with the institution, 
but the individual. When Mrs. Mona Caird's 
low-toned essay, "Is Marriage a Failure?" was 
being talked of a few months ago. Rev. David 
Swing, of Chicago, said the question should 
have been, " Is Good Sense a Failure ? " Dr. 
Swing then struck at the root of the trouble by 
saying, " 111 comes not because men and women 
are married, but because they are fools." Yet 
this is almost the only class for whom ou»^ 
divorce laws are made, and the more liberal the: 

260 



THK DEMON OF DIVORCE. 261 

laws, tlie more foolisli the fools can afford 
to be. 

Were divorce popular only for the sake of get- 
ting rid of undesirable partners it would be bad 
enough. Really it is a thousand times worse be- 
cause its principal purpose is to help husband or 
wife to a new partner. This cause never is as- 
signed in a petition for divorce ; it doesn't need 
to be ; the community has learned to assume it, 
as a matter of course. 

The case was well put a short time ago by 
Rabbi Silverman, at the great Temple Emanu- 
El, in New York, when he said, " The real cause 
for divorce is that there is nothing behind the 
civil contract that cements the marriage union 
and so welds it that nothing can tear it asunder. 
The real cause for divorce is that the marriage 
was a failure because it was not a marriage in 
fact, but merely in name. It was not a union of 
hearts for mutual happiness, but merely a part- 
nership for vain pleasure and profit." So long as 
we allow divorce to be easy, do we not encourage 
such marriages ? 

Any divorce except for the one cause recognized 
by the founder of Christianity is more injurious 
to society at large than any other crime, murder 
not excepted. Most crimes may have a good 
reflex influence by persuading men to be more 
watchful of their own impulses and lives, but the 
men or women who obtain divorces for any but 



262 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEH." 

the gravest cause are sure, aside from the effect 
upon themselves, to increase the discontent of 
acquaintances whose married life is not all that 
had been hoped or wished. 

One condition absolutely necessary to a pure 
and happy married life is the belief from the be- 
ginning that wedlock is to last as long as life it- 
self. Without the stimulus of this tremendous 
sense of responsibility no person will unmake 
and remake himself so as to be the fit companion 
of another. Even with this impulse the effort 
often fails, as all of us know from observation of 
our own acquaintances. To admit the possibility 
of a cessation of relations or, worse still, a change 
of marital relations, is to relax effort and to be- 
come a selfish time-server — to become a confidence 
man instead of a partner. 

The effect of a divorce suit upon the plaintiff 
is something which does not require theorizing. 
It can be ascertained by personal observation in 
almost any American court which grants divorces, 
for such cases are becoming more and more fre- 
quent. Whether the plaintiff be man or woman, 
whether the cause be drunkenness, or desertion, 
or incompatibility of temper, or insanity, or im- 
providence, or any of the various causes for which 
divorces are granted in some States, the plaintiff 
or complainant, if closely watched from day to 
day during the proceedings, will be seen, even by 
his dearest friends, to show marks of mental de- 



THE DEMON OE DIVORCE. 263 

terioration. To tear two lives apart is a serious 
thing at best. Two friends bound only by ordi, 
nary ties liave seldom separated without bad effects 
being visible upon both. Where the friendship 
is of a nature that has affected every portion of 
the life of each, as must have been the case even 
with wedded couples who have married at haste 
and have not even begun to repent at leisure, 
the effect is so marked that a person seeking 
divorce almost always loses some of his adherents, 
w^ho previously had been his warmest friends, be- 
fore the case is decided. Where love was, hatred 
is excited though it may not even have existed in 
the first place. The contest upon points of fact, 
upon recollections of difficulties and differences, 
the depressing literalness and materialism of 
proof such as is demanded in courts, the entire 
materialism, heartlessness, callousness, of all the 
proceedings, as they must be conducted under 
forms of law, are such as to debase any nature 
but the noblest — but noble natures do not seek 
divorce. 

Bad as ma}'^ be the condition of the complain- 
ant and the effect upon his own manner and con- 
duct, it is not as deplorable as that visible upon 
the defendant. To face any direct charge in a 
court of law before witness, even if these be only 
officers of the law who are supposed to be impar- 
tial and judicial in their opinions and actions, the 
violation of privacy in regard to interests and re- 



264 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

lations, which above all others — except perhaps 
those of a human being toward his God — are 
sacred even to the rudest minds, cannot help 
have its effect upon any nature but the strongest. 
The life of the defendant in a divorce suit, unless 
the complaint is utterly groundless and unfair, is 
from the first likely to be blasted. The more at 
fault the more the defendant must suffer, not only 
in his own self-respect, but in the regard of those 
about him. The curious gaze of the spectators, 
the intent look of the jurors, the disgust of the 
judge upon the bench, the flippancy of the wit- 
ness on the stand, all have influences which would 
make many innocent people show signs of guilt. 
Upon any one really at fault all these influences 
must be still more depressing. 

It is a common saying among law3^ers that a 
woman divorced from her husband, on no matter 
how slight cause, is pretty sure to go to the bad 
thereafter. This is not necessarily an indication, 
so the lawyers say, that the woman is at fault, but 
that the mental strain to which she has been sub- 
jected, the strain upon her self-respect, is greater 
than poor humanity is equal to. What the sub- 
sequent results are upon her in society we all 
know. The present ruler of England has de- 
cided that no divorced woman, no matter in what 
countrj/ her divorce was obtained, shall e\^er ap- 
pear at court. The rule seems cruel, but social 
results certainly appear to justify it. 



THE DEMON OF DIVORCE. 265 

If there are cliildren in the case, as usually 
there are — for somehow people without children 
seldom appear in the divorce courts — if there are 
children, the results upon them are worse than 
upon either the complainant or defendant. The 
principal good influence children are subject 
to is that of home. A disagreement between 
father and mother naturally interrupts this. An 
absolute break between the parents cannot fail to 
immediately have the worst possible effects upon 
the children. All children — except yours and 
mine — are at times brutes. There are no worse 
tale-tellers, no worse back-biters, no worse sayers 
of cruel things, than little children. It is not 
that they are unusually wicked or savage by na- 
ture, but insufficient training, lack of self-restraint, 
lack of adult sense of propriety, causes the tongue 
to say whatever is in the heart ; and any adult 
who is obliged to keep a watch upon his own 
tongue should be able through sympathy to im- 
agine the savagery which will be inflicted upon 
the children of divorced or divorcing people by 
their associates. However disobedient or irrev- 
erent children may be to their parents, the filial 
instinct exists in all of them, and a stab at either 
parent is felt most keenly by the children. 

The ordinary consolations of a person wounded 
through the heart of another are denied the child. 
It has neither religion nor philosophy, nor even 
stoicism, to support it. It must suffer keenly, 



266 '' MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

and when it looks for consolation or desires con- 
solation, where is it to go, when the two authors 
of its being, whom it has been taught to regard 
with equal respect, are at difference, and each is 
ready to accuse the other and belittle the^)ther? 
The child of a divorced person is a marked ob- 
ject of curiosity in the society of children, 
whether in neighborhood parties or at school or 
Sunday-school, or even in church. The slightest 
quarrel brings the inevitable taunt that " your 
mother ran away from your father," or " your 
father is in love with somebody else's mother," 
or " you haven't an}^ father now," or something 
of the kind. Only a short time ago the news- 
papers of the United States recorded the suicide 
of a child of nine years, who had sought death 
to avoid the torment of being twitted with the 
separation of its parents. 

Four lines of one of Pope's poems, which prob- 
abl}^ are familiar to every one, indicate the gen- 
eral effect of divorced persons upon society : 

" vice is a monster of sucla hideous mien 
That to be hated needs but to be seen ; 
But seen too oft, famiUar vrith its face, 
We first endure, then pity, then embrace." 

The report that any person has obtained a di- 
vorce for any cause but the most serious gener- 
all}^ sends a shudder through any American social 
circle which calls itself respectable. Even husbands 
and Agaves whose own marital experiences have 



THE DEMO>T OF DIVORCE. 267 

not been as joyous as was expected, are shocked 
by tbe legal disruption of a family — tbe spectacle 
of the wifeless husband whose wife really lives, 
or the woman without mate or protector whose 
husband nevertheless is not yet dead. But the 
force of the shock gradually weakens through 
frequent meetings with either part}-. The faults 
of the absent member are recalled, the good 
points of the alleged culprit are also recalled, and 
little b}' little excuses are made, until the change 
is regarded as coolly as the dissolution of a busi- 
ness copartnership. Unfortunately, too, the par- 
ties to a divorce are often brilliant members of 
the society in which they have moved, for the live- 
liest persons are generally the most discontented. 
The unrest of some phases of social life, the de- 
sire to be less confined at home, and to be more 
in general and congenial company, has a great 
deal to do wdth bringing about divorce, much 
though the guilty parties may deny it, and the 
persons who most frequently appear in the divorce 
courts are those who have been the most popular 
in their respective social sets. 

This is bad enough, but it is only the begin- 
ning of the evil. What man has done man — or 
woman — ma}^ do, is as true of evil as of good. If 
Mr. A or Airs. B has escaped a lot of apparent 
marital trouble by divorce, why should not Mr. 
and Mrs. C do likewise? They meant well — 
this is an admission which most people sooner or 



268 ''my country, 'tis of thee." 

later make in favor of everybody not absolutely 
fiendish — they failed. Why should they not try 
again ? Then besides, they once more have their 
freedom, and the longing to be free is strong 
enough in the animal portion of any one's nature 
to rise and trample down everything else, if it is 
at all encouraged. Little by little, yet very rap- 
idly, contemplation of the problem of divorce 
discourages efforts towards self-improvement and 
the perfection of marital life. It is a benumber 
and deadener of every honorable conjugal im- 
pulse. To endeavor to decide between two evils 
is an experience which is demoralizing to any one ; 
to decide between evil and good, when the good 
seems no more desirable than the evil, is a great 
deal worse. Yet this is the mental and moral 
condition of every one still married who con- 
templates divorce as a possible release from rela- 
tions which are unsatisfactory, yet which might 
be made all that they should be. 

The effect of association with divorced people 
— and there is no grade of society which does 
not contain them — is especially deplorable upon 
young people of marriageable age. The veriest 
heathen who has studied the influences of mar- 
riage will admit that the rising generation needs 
greater seriousness in contemplating wedlock. 
But what can be expected of any good-natured, 
well-meaning, thoughtless, careless, pleasure- 
loving, selfish young man or girl — and nearly 



THE DEMON OF DIVORCE- 269 

all young people are fairly described by these 
adjectives — wbo, while wondering whether or no 
to propose to, or accept, some attractive person 
of the opposite sex, is continually reminded 
by certain facts and incidents that if the bond 
becomes irksome it may be broken at will ? 

Some husbands and wives fight like cats and 
dogs, but in spite of it all, thank God, they still 
dearly love their children. What man or woman 
within the pale of decency would give a daughter 
in marriage with the thought that she might be 
put away by her husband at some time for some 
cause recognized by the courts of Utah, or Chicago, 
or Indiana, as sufficient for divorce ? What parent 
will allow a son to mate with a girl who might 
possibly weary of him, release herself through 
legal measures and become the wife of some 
other man ? 

Physicians and spiritual directors agree that 
persistent thought upon the lower developments 
and interests of the marriage relation are ex- 
tremely injurious to human character. What 
other phases of married life can be much dwelt 
upon by the mind of any one who thinks at all 
of the possibility of divorce for any cause but 
the most serious ? The relationship thus re- 
garded is so nearly that of the animals that love, 
so far as it has existed, must be brought down to 
the level of passion, and passion afterward to 
that of lust, and lust in turn down to appetite, 



270 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

until beings, wlio once had hopes and aspirations 
and longings which, in spite of being unfortified 
by knowledge and principle, were noble in them- 
selves, place themselves practically on the level 
of the beasts. According to managers and chap- 
lains of great prisons there is hope of reform 
for almost any criminal whose offences were 
committed only through what are called thp 
selfish instincts, by which is generally meant 
destructiveness and theft. But these same ex- 
perts in crime are utterly hopeless of the refor- 
mation of any one whose sexual instincts have 
become depraved or even inverted. Yet it is 
difficult for any one to go through a divorce 
case, or to think steadily upon the possibility of 
divorce, without such a deterioration of sexual 
feeling, impulse, and aspiration. What hope 
can there be that such persons will occupy a 
respectable position in society in the future ? 

Can divorce be made less popular and easy ? 
Yes. How? B}^ a constitutional amendment, 
against which no respectable citizen not a lawyer 
would dare to vote, that the national government 
shall make a divorce law to replace those of the 
States. Tricks of, and concessions to divorce 
lawyers cannot be slipped through Congress as 
easily as through a State Legislature. Congress 
is up to a great many dirty jobs, but not of that 
kind. 

Congress can't make a stringent divorce law, 



THE DEMON OF DIVORCE. 271 

say some lawyers, but perhaps these gentlemen 
have their own reasons for saying so. Bx- 
Attorney-General Russell, of New York, who 
has looked into the subject closely, recently said 
such a constitutional amendment was possible, 
because more than two-thirds of the States 
already are inclined to limit divorce to the gravest 
cause only. 

In the framing and adoption of such a con- 
stitutional amendment. Congress would have 
support from a source whose importance cannot 
be overestimated. I mean the Church ; not any 
one denomination, but all — Mormons excepted. 
Bishop Foss, of the Methodist Church, said re- 
cently that his denomination could be counted 
upon to support such a movement ; Bishop 
Whittaker, of the Protestant Episcopal Church, 
spoke in similar strain. The Catholic Church 
recognizes but one cause of divorce, and the 
Hebrews are equally rigid. Indeed, all creeds 
agree on this subject, and vv^hen the amendment 
comes up for vote or ratification the influence of 
such " Church Union " cannot be combatted — 
much less overcome. 

The effect of a divorce law upon the com- 
munity should be like that of a burned bridge to 
a lot of soldiers who have just crossed it. With 
no possibility of going back, there is every in- 
ducement to go ahead and make the best of 
whatever is before. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE farmer's troubles. 

The average American fanner is one of tlie 
best fellows in the world. He also is one of the 
most unfortunate. 

He generally comes to his profession by acci- 
dent. He may not have meant to become a 
farmer, but through death, or change of family, 
or some other circumstance entirely out of his 
own control, he comes in possession of the 
family estates, almost certainly encumbered with 
mortgages, and must continue the family busi- 
ness to secure a living for himself From the 
first he is doomed to loneliness, which is one of 
the worst curses that humanity can suffer. He 
cannot afford to employ help, for if he had capi- 
tal he would not be a farmer, and it requires 
capital to secure proper assistance in the conduct 
of a farm. He must do all of his work himself 
If he cannot do it, it must remain undone. As 
a rule the farmers of the United States are awake 
long before daylight in the morning, and their 
work continues long after dark in the evening. 
The working hours of the day, which to the 

272 




TACOMA 15UILDING. 



THE farmer's troubles. 273 

ordinary laborer are ten hours, and to more fav- 
ored classes eight or seven, or even six, are to 
the farmer as a rule at least fourteen in twenty- 
four. His work is never done, any more than 
womans. 

As a natural consequence he always is tired 
out. Custom and the demand of the markets 
restrict him generally to a single crop. Whether 
this be wheat, or com, or oats, the seeding time 
is comparatively short. So is harvest time. The 
farm is larger than any one man or family can 
possibly manage, but American demand being 
at present only for raw materials, he has no 
choice. He must plant the staples from which 
foreign countries are willing to purchase the sur- 
plus for cash. Otherwise his condition would be 
worse than that of a slave. It is very hard for 
any one man to "break up" more than one acre 
of ground per day with a good team of horses. 
What, therefore, can the single-handed American 
farmer, who owns a hundred and sixty acres of 
ground, the customary "quarter section," expect 
to do with his immense estate? To properly 
care for his family he should plant all of it ; but, 
except in the case of wheat, if he were to plant 
it all, one-half to three-fourths of the crop would 
be wasted through lack of necessary cultivation. 
His horse is like himself, an overworked animal. 
In any section of the country the farmer is re- 
garded safe who owns a pair of good horses. But 



274 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

animals working twenty-six days per montli from 
sunrise to sunset in tlie long days of summer 
cannot be kept up to tlieir work by any amount 
of feeding or care. Sooner or later one or tbe 
other of a span of horses may break down, and 
then the farmer is helpless unless he has money 
in hand with which to purchase a substitute. 
Not ten farmers thus fortunate can be found in 
any contiguous hundred. 

For the farmer is always poor. If it were 
otherwise he would not be a farmer. A very lit- 
tle experience on the farm and less observation 
of men about him show him that there is more 
money in mechanical or mercantile business, to 
say nothing of other callings, than his own. But 
he is handicapped from the start, no matter if he 
begins young, and while he still is a bachelor. 
When he has a family on his hands he is simply 
helpless so far as the possibility of change goes. 
The average farmer lives in hopes that in time 
his children, of whom he generally has many, 
will be of some assistance to him. Frequently 
his hopes are apparently fulfilled for a short time. 
But children are not as steady as grown people, 
The}^ roam about in any time which they have 
to themselves. They reach the villages. They 
learn of a life which contains less toil and more 
comforts than that to which they are accustomed, 
and one by one they begin to intimate a desire 
for a change. It is utterly out of nature for the 



THE farmer's troubles. 275 

farmer to disregard this desire. No matter how 
mucli he may love their company he knows in 
his inmost heart that a change from farm life to 
some sphere of activity which is less exacting 
would be a benefit to them physically and men- 
tally, possibly morally also. His sons endeavor 
to become salesmen in stores, or to be clerks in 
lawyers' offices, or solicitors for one business en- 
terprise or another — anything to avoid the per- 
sistent and wearing drudgery of the farm. His 
daughters, in spite of the boasted independence 
of the farmer, and of his family, are very easily 
persuaded to go into any factory that there may 
be in the vicinity. It is not that they love home 
less, but they love companionship more, and, be- 
ing like human beings everywhere else, they are 
keenly sensitive to the cheering influence of 
money — real cash received once a week instead 
of a possible balance to the family's credit at the 
village store at the end of the year. 

For the American farmer is generally at the 
mercy of the trader. The trader is as good as 
the average merchant, and is practically a mer- 
chant in all respects. He is generally the 
keeper of a general store at which the farmer 
during the year purchases everything which he 
may need for his family on an open account; 
with the understanding that when his crops are 
made they shall be turned over to the merchant, 
and a general balance struck. When there is 



276 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

a good year the result may be in favor of the 
farmer, but good years are not the rule in the 
United States, even though the country is, as is 
said, the garden of the world. People w^ho work 
and strain their energies to the uttermost require 
more in the way of ordinary creature comforts 
than those whose lives are more regular, and, 
though the farmer may discuss prices with great 
earnestness with the local merchant, the end 
is practically the same : he purchases whatever 
his famil}^ wants, so long as he can have it 
*' charged." He must purchase at the price 
stipulated by the merchant, for it is utterly im- 
possible for him to look anywhere else for what 
he may need. 

Some newspapers have made sensational com- 
plaints of the system of peonage to which some 
southern blacks or freedmen have been reduced by 
the storekeepers of plantations since slavery days, 
but there is no practical difference between their 
condition and that of the farmers the country 
over. " The borrower is servant to the lender," 
and the man who has no money with which to 
purchase must submit to the exactions of who- 
ever is willing to extend credit to him. Farmers' 
notes are in the market in almost every county of 
the United States, and frequently those of which 
sell at the lowest prices are drawn by men of whose 
honesty of purpose and intention to pay no one 
has the slightest doubt. The only reason is that 



THK farmer's TROUBLEvS. 277 

the farmer's absolute necessities have been in 
excess of the cash value of his farm products. 

It is customary to speak of the farmer's life as 
being the happiest and the safest occupation in the 
world. Nearly every one knows of some one 
successful farmer, and bases his judgment upon 
his knowledge of that solitary individual. But 
facts are stubborn things, and they have been, 
proved by figures in the United States in a 
manner that should make those who are envious 
of the farmer think again. 

According to the last census report the aver- 
age valuation of the farm-lands of the United 
States, including buildings, was less than twenty 
dollars per acre. The average value of the 
products was less than eight dollars per acre. 
A quarter section of land, which is the ordinary 
size of an American farm in the States most 
devoted to agriculture, is a hundred and sixty 
acres. The reader may cipher out his own 
inferences with very little trouble, remembering 
that groceries, medicines, clothing, and every- 
thing else not produced by the farm costs quite 
as much in the rural districts as in the large 
cities, and generally a great deal more. 

It has been said that the gold produced in the 
mining districts of the United States has cost 
far more in labor and physical loss than its value 
amounted to. The cost of the farm-land in the 
United States leaves the apparent waste on gold 



278 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OK THEE." 

in absolute insignificance. There are tnousands 
of American farms to-day, probably hundreds of 
thousands, of which the land under the hammer 
would not bring as much money as the fences of 
those same farms have cost. The expense of 
clearing wooded land to fit it for agriculture has 
been far greater in almost every section of the 
country than the value of the land at the 
highest price prevailing would repay. The 
work of fencing and clearing was done by other 
generations, who got less from their farms than 
the present occupants are receiving. 

One of the favorite arguments of men who 
urge younger men to go West and take a farm 
and grow up with the country is, that they will 
never lack for plenty to eat. This statement is 
entirely true. A man can always have plenty 
of food from his own estate if he cultivates it at 
all, or has any live stock. But one accompany- 
ing fact is, and this fact should be carefully con- 
sidered — that frequently he has no place at which 
to market at a profit what he produces. He is 
so far from any market that what he does not 
eat he frequently is obliged to waste. Corn in 
the ear has been used during many winters for 
fuel in portions of the West, not because there 
was no wood to be had, but because there was no 
convenient place at which to market the corn, 
even at the bare expense of shelling and hauling 
to market, to say nothing of the previous cost of 



tkp: farmer'vS troublEvS. 271) 

planting, cultivation, and harvesting. Where a 
fanner is near a market, as in some eastern 
States, his table is no better set than that of the 
cheapest-paid mechanic in the city. He may 
have eighty acres of wheat, but if his family 
wishes to eat a cabbage they are obliged to go to 
some village market and purchase it ; the farmer 
himself has not had time to plant and cultivate 
it. Summer boarders find fewer vegetables in 
the country than in the city. 

The natural question occurs, why does not 
the farmer change his business as hundreds of 
thousands of mechanics and other men are doing 
every year ? The answer is that it is impossible 
for him to do so. He cannot leave his farm 
without ruin to his family, for to neglect to plant 
and cultivate is to lose the credit upon which in 
ninety-nine cases in a hundred he must subsist. 
He cannot sell his farm at auction under the 
hammer as if it were a city house or a village 
residence, for purchasers of farms are the rarest 
of all purchasers of real-estate in the United 
States. This is not in accordance with European 
precedent or supposition, but it has been demon- 
strated in every State, and almost every county 
of the Union. 

Does all this mean that farming will not pay ? 
No. Farming will pay if backed by capital as 
well as practical knowledge. But it is almost 
impossible that the American farmer of the 



280 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

present generation shall have any capital from 
any source whatever. Farming, when conducted 
intelligently, can be made profitable in any 
portion of the United States by a man with 
sufficient money in his pocket. Hiram Siblc}^, 
one of the most remarkable men whom the 
United States ever produced, was, at the time of 
his death, in 1888, managing four hundred dif- 
ferent farms in nine different States of the 
Union, conducting all through correspondence, 
and he made it his boast, in which undoubtedl}^ 
he was honest, that from each of these farms he 
secured a profit. But Sibley was a millionaire 
twenty times over, probably forty times. What- 
ever his farms needed they could have at once, 
and at the lowest market price, for he alwa3^s 
had cash to pay for whatever he wanted. Never- 
theless, this successful farmer, this millionaire, 
this thorough-going man of business, said, to the 
day of his death, that there was no more pitiable 
character in the United States than the farmer. 

Nobody knows more about any one special 
business than the man who does not have to 
attend to its details, so there is a widespread 
opinion and assertion that the trouble with the 
farmer is that he is improvident. Men call at- 
tention to the expenses, apparently unnecessary, 
which he is continually making, particularly in 
the direction of comforts and even luxuries for 
his family. But what can the farmer do? 



THE farmer's TROUBLEvS. 281 

Everywhere east of the Mississippi river he is 
near a village. His children go to school with 
those of the village. They learn of comforts 
and luxuries to which they are not accustomed 
at home. They talk about them. They think 
about them. They long for them. The farmer 
himself is a human being. Any one who mis- 
takes him for a boor makes a terrible blunder. 
Whenever it is in his power to make his home 
more comfortable he does so with a degree of 
earnestness that is almost terrible. He is 
anxious to save himself from the possible im- 
putation, by his own children, of being a less 
careful provider than any one with whom his 
family are on intimate terms. 

When there comes a year in which crops 
promise well, the farmer will buy anything that 
his family may want, if he can pay by giving 
his note of hand, to fall due after the yield of 
the year is sold. Makers of sewing-machines, 
organs, pianos, venders of furniture and bric-a- 
brac, agents of subscription-books, go first and 
most steadily to the farmers with their wares. 
The farmer will give his note, the vender will 
find some one who will discount it, and in the 
end it must be paid or compromised. If the 
crops go well everything is paid — perhaps. If 
not, the farmer is deeper than ever in the morass 
of debt. He has the consolation, apparently 
slight, though it is ^reat to him, that his family 



282 " MY COUNTRY, 'TiS OF THEE." 

has enjoyed some of the benefits of villagers 
whom they have envied, and that some day, 
somehow, he will get even with the world for it. 
Perhaps this apparent extravagance of his will 
keep his family together longer than the family 
of his neighbor A or B or C, from which the 
boys have drifted into village stores and shops, 
and the girls into domestic service in the town, 
or perhaps into factories, all to avoid the hard 
work, but still more, the loneliness and barren- 
ness of the average farmer's home. 

How helpless and unpromising is the present 
condition of the American farmer can best be 
imagined by a glance at the farming interest as 
it exists at present in the New England States. 
Here, within the lifetime of the present genera- 
tion, mills have dotted the sides of every river 
and brook that has sufficient power to turn a 
wheel. Thousands of people are gathered 
closely together every few miles along these 
water-courses, working in mills and factories, and 
absolutely dependant upon the surrounding 
country for their food supplies. Yet in no other 
section of the country are there so many aban- 
doned farms. A short time ago the twelve best 
farms in the State of Vermont were practically 
abandoned because it seemed impossible to their 
owners to wCrk-t-hem without a loss, and a bill 
was introduced in the Legislature to exempt these 
particular farms — which, again I repeat, were the 



THE farmer's troubles. 283 

best in the State — to exempt these farnis from 
taxation so that some one might be persuaded 
to work them. It is not that the farmers have 
no market for what they produce, but that the 
finer farm products, or what in the larger cities 
are called the products of market-gardening, are 
of a nature so perishable that the profitable 
promise of a good soil may be speedily lost by 
the loss of the field itself after gathering. 

Kven near the large city of New York, where 
some men pay the interest on land worth five 
thousand dollars per acre for the sake of tilling 
it for market-gardening purposes, there are 
thousands of acres of ground utterly neglected 
year after year, as they have been for the past 
twenty years. It is possible that some of these 
might have been tilled to profit, but, with a steady 
demand for labor in the cities for which sure and 
frequent pay is guaranteed, the farmer's sons 
and daughters left their home, and the father 
was left without assistance and without means to 
hire help. Even had he hired it, the results 
would have been the same — the balance on the 
wrong side at the end of the year. 

Frequently the suggestion is made that the 
farmers hould receive a bounty from the Govern- 
ment or from his State on special products, and 
this system, so far as individual States are con- 
cerned, is in partial operation. The farmer him- 
self is distinctly of the opinion that, while legis- 



284 " MY COUNTRY, 'tis OF THEE." 

lation provides special relief and assistance for 
nearly every other class in the industrial world, 
he should not be neglected. When he begins to 
demand such assistance, as he is now quite will- 
ing to do, there wall be before the public a ques- 
tion of greater magnitude than any labor prob- 
lem which has yet appeared. Special legislation 
has an unpopular sound, but the fact exists, as 
any follower of Congressional and legislative pro- 
ceedings well knows. 

The granger movement in the West was the 
initial of this attempt at improving the farmer's 
condition. Like other great popular movements, 
it began with a sudden impulse, in which there 
was more earnestness than intelligence ; yet any 
observer of the necessities of the farmer and the 
management of the railways knows that there 
was a substantial basis of sense to it. For a 
great many years the railways took the lion's 
share of the farm's yield, on the plea that it cost 
that proportion of the value of the crop to move 
corn or wheat or pork to market. Why it took 
so large an amount is well known in the case of 
many roads, which by watering their stock or 
subsidizing construction companies were capital- 
ized at several times their value. In the future 
efforts of the farmer to secure recognition and 
proper compensation for his service, the factors 
of the problem may not be so distinct, but, un- 
less something is done in the direction of legisla- 



THE farmer's troubles. 285 

tive assistance, the farms of tlie West must in 
time be deserted as largely as those of tlie east- 
ern States, in which there are now thousands of 
farms in which not only the land, but the build- 
ings, are without occupants, and are at the service 
of anyone who may be fool enough to occupy 
them — that is the farmer's way of putting it. 

It has frequently been suggested that the 
farmer could save largely from the financial 
results of his year's work by participating in co- 
operative movements for the supply of stores and 
other necessities of his family on his farm. It 
may not be known to theorists that this sugges- 
tion has nothing new in it. It occurred to the 
farmer in hundreds of counties, and he endeav- 
ored to act upon it. But what can a man do in 
the wa}^ of purchasing from first hands, who has 
no capital with which to purchase? Farmers' 
stores and farmers' clubs were tried, to a large 
extent, forty or fifty years ago, all over the States 
which now are the most populous section of the 
Mississippi valley. Sometimes the effort re- 
sulted in the establishment of depots of supply 
for farmers alone, but a single year of bad crops, 
whether caused by drought or insect pests or over- 
flows, or any other cause entirely outside of the con- 
trol of the farmer, would cause the ruin of any 
establishment which chanced to be started with 
capital sufi&cient only for a little while. 

As before stated, and as must be kept in mind 



286 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

in each and in all considerations of the farmer's 
lot and the farmer's future, the agriculturist of 
the United States is almost always a man with- 
out capital, and a man whose constant struggle 
is to be equal by his output to his daily demands. 
When a farmer's store failed, the deficiency had 
to be made up in cash, even if some of the back- 
ers had to sell their estates. Bankruptcy pro- 
ceedings or "arrangements " with creditors were 
not easy. It is no exaggeration to say that it 
would be far easier, in most parts of the United 
States, to sell a white elephant or a million-dollar 
diamond than to turn a farm into cash at short 
notice, although the seller were willing to sub- 
mit to a ruinous sacrifice. There are hundreds of 
thousands of farmers in the better and more fully 
settled States, who for years have had their estates 
in the market, and been willing and anxious to 
sell at a loss, yet have been utterly unable to find 
a purchaser, except among men of their own 
class, who had no money to pay in advance and 
who could simply offer a mortgage as security 
for future payment, and from which mortgage, in 
case of default on interest or principal, nothing 
could be obtained for a year or more, and even 
then only after proceedings most uncomfortable 
to institute and likely only to result in a terrible 
sacrifice to the creditor. The number of men 
who are " land poor " in the agricultural districts 
of the United States is almost beyond computa- 



THE farmer's troubles. ^87 

tion. The mau who has a farm of two or three 
hundred acres, nominally valued at a hundred 
dollars per acre, is supposed to be worth twenty 
or thirty thousand dollars and quite good for all 
his debts. The truth is that often he suffers 
more for lack of some small necessity for which 
cash must be paid than the city mechanic or la- 
borer, who receives only a few dollars per week 
for his services. 

Why doesn't he borrow from a bank, giving a 
mortgage for security ? Bless you, no bank that 
would lend to farmers, on the risks and time usu- 
ally necessar}'-, could continue in business. 

The suggestion may be startling, but still it is 
practical, that it may yet be necessary, for the 
proper feeding of the community, that farming, 
like the policing of cities and the maintenance 
of an army and the conduct of the postal de- 
partment, shall be done at the expense of the 
government. This seems to have been the method 
in Egypt in the days of Pharaoh and of Joseph, 
his steward, and America may yet have to revert 
to it. The Government will have either to man- 
age the farms or assist the farmers; the people 
may choose which shall be done. 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE RUM POWER. 

Most people have heard of the man who in a 
difficulty with a vicious bull finally got the 
animal by the tail. He could not hurt the 
brute^ yet he did not dare to let go, so he was 
slung about most unmercifully, and at last ac- 
counts he was still being slung. The bull was 
in the wrong, the man in the right ; still he 
had the animal only by the tail : instead of 
quieting or frightening the brute, he merely 
made him angry and was severely punished for 
his well-meant efforts. 

The people of the United States in their con- 
test with the rum power are in the position of 
the man with the bull. The rum power is in 
the wrong ; the people are in the right, yet they 
have the monster only by the tail, so they only 
worry him and make misery for themselves. 

It is not necessar}^ to recount the harm done 
individuals and families by the liquor traffic. 
Almost every charge that the most rabid prohi- 
bitionist makes can be substantiated by a thou- 
sand men who sell liquor, aside from what total 
abstainers ma}' know or believe or imagine. 

288 











KKSIDKNCK lluX. TOTTER PALMER. 



THE RUM POWER. 289 

Bishop Warren, of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, is not an excitable man, but he does not 
overstate the truth at all when he says : " Innu- 
merable are the crimes of dolorous and accursed 
ages, and a fruitful source of them all is in- 
temperance. It robs the body of its strength, 
the senses of their delicacy, the mind of its 
acuteness, the spirit of its life. It fires every 
passion, makes every base appetite the master 
of mind and will, leaves man an utter wreck. 
Of its work there are frightful statistics of rob- 
beries, arsons, murders, insanities, and curses to 
the third and fourth generations ; but there are 
no statistics that can measure the heartbreaks 
of wives, hungers of children, disappointments 
of fond parents, and physical inheritance of de- 
terioration and unconquerable appetite. It is 
the one great, stark, crying curse of our race 
and age. It is the personal foe of every parent, 
Sunday-school teacher, and preacher of right- 
eousness," 

Miss Frances Willard, who is doing more suc- 
cessful temperance work than any man who is in 
the same field at present, states the case as ear- 
nestly as Bishop Warren, and with the extra force 
which figures always give — figures which no one 
contradicts because no one can. She says: "No 
man of the smallest intelligence can be ignorant 
of the fact that the saloon is to-day the chief 
destructive force in society ; that the cumulative 

19 



290 ^* MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

testimony of judge, jury, and executive ofiicers 
of the law declares that fifty per cent, of the 
idiocy and lunacy, eighty per cent, of the crimes, 
and ninety per cent of the pauperism come from 
strong drink ; that the saloon holds the balance 
of power in almost every city of ten thousand 
inhabitants ; that it is the curse of workingmen 
and the sworn foe of home." 

It isn't necessary, either, to call attention to 
the harm done free institutions at election times 
by the influence of rum. The late " Petroleum " 
Nasby, whom all of us knew for a lovable fellow 
and an able editor, once consumed a gallon, of 
whiskey a day on the average. When he 
stopped drinking he wrote a series of temperance 
editorials, concluding with the words " Paralyze 
the rum power." " Pete " had been in politics 
himself: he knew what the "power "of rum 
was, and how it was used. 

The demoralizing effect of plenty of liquor is 
so well known that the first duty of a local cam- 
paign manager, no matter of which party, is to 
make proper arrangements with rum-shops for 
supplying free drinks for the purpose of changing 
voters' views. The man who has opinions, no 
matter what they may be, is quite likely to 
modify them if asked when he is under the in- 
fluence of a few drinks ; and if his liquid conso- 
lation is to be supplied at the expense of some 
other man, the opinions of the two are likely to 



THE RUM POWER. 291 

be in entire accord before the transaction is con- 
cluded. Votes are easier purcbased with rum 
than with money, no matter how large the sum 
that may be at the disposal of any political boss 
or ward committee. The public heard, a few 
years ago, to its horiror, that an important State 
had been carried for the victorious party by a 
general distribution of new two-dollar bills. 
The truth is, as any one can learn by visiting 
the districts which then were close in the State 
alluded to, that a great deal more money than 
the entire number of two-dollar bills amounted 
to hid previously been expelided in rum-shops 
to which men who were willing to listen to what 
was called " a fair presentation of conflicting 
views " could be persuaded to come. Liquor is 
cheaper in the western States than in large 
cities. It is worse, too. A little of it goes a 
long way, and the man who will spend an even- 
ing in a rum-shop in a rural locality, is equal to 
any enormity, compared with which an apparent 
change of sentiment on political subjects is a 
mere trifle. As Channing used to say, " Rum out- 
wits alike the teacher, the man of business, the 
patriot, and the legislator." 

Stepping aside from sentiment, and coming- 
down to practical facts. Rev. Theodore Cuyler 
says that the liquor question " enters more im- 
mediately into the enrichment or the impoverish- 
ment of the national resources than any question 



292 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

of tariff or currency. More money is touched 
by the drink traffic and the effects of the traffic 
than by any other trade known among men. 
The tax upon national resources levied by the 
bottle is far heavier than the combined taxes for 
every object of public well-being." 

Statistics of drink are undoubtedly more 
appalling than those of the most bloody and 
senseless war that the world ever knew. Some 
that are published are entirely untrustworthy ; a 
head for reform does not always mean a head 
for figures; so figures are often made to lie, like 
tombstones. But the truth is bad enough. It is 
plain to any man who knows anything about 
current values that the price of a glass of poor 
beer will buy a pound of good bread, and the 
price of a glass of best whiskey will buy a 
pound of the best meat. Yet a great deal more 
money goes for beer and whiskey than for bread 
and meat. 

Why? 

Depraved appetite, answers the professional 
moralist. This is the veriest nonsense, although 
it is the commonest of the reasons that are given 
for inordinate indulgence in stimulants. An ap- 
petite, properly speaking, must be of a fixed na- 
ture. There is no drunkard alive who has a fixed 
appetite for liquor. The depraved appetite, so- 
called, is an occasional manifestation of the influ- 
ence of long indulgence in alcoholic stimulants, 



THE RUM POWER. 293 

but it is no more possible to prolong it and make 
it a fixed condition of a man's life tban it is for 
a human being to make a voyage to the moon. 

The first purpose of drink, to any one who 
is beginning to use liquor, is to " feel good," and 
there is no denying that this is a general longing 
in every grade of humanity, from the highest to the 
lowest. Most human beings of the lower order 
are full of physical defects, all the way from 
those of the muscles and joints to those of the 
vital organs and nerves. If you ask the south- 
ern field-hand how he feels, you may safely bet 
that he will answer, " pooty porely," and to get re- 
lief from his aches and pains he resorts to liquor, 
whenever he can get it. The Indian is another 
specimen of the man who wants to ' ' feel good. ' ' He 
is supposed to be physically a splendid child of 
nature, but he seldom is without some serious 
functional disorder or inherited curse of the flesh 
which makes him the willing slave of any stimu- 
lant he can get. A great host of unfortu- 
nates who have come to the United States from 
other lands are practically in the same condition ; 
starved, abused, and underfed for generations 
and centuries, a glass of rum is to them like the 
touch of an angel, and a jugful is the equiva- 
lent of a heavenly host. There is no sense in 
talking about " depraved appetites " when you 
contemplate these people, from whom come the 
mass of the rumseller's customers. 



294 " MY COUNTRY, 'TLS OF THEE." 

The second strong impulse to drink is like unto 
the first ; it is to " brace up." Human nature is 
either a dreadfully weak machine, or one which 
the majority persist in overworking. Men's en- 
ergies, spurred by their necessities, too often out- 
run their strength ; then stimulation will be re- 
sorted to if it is at hand. It is quite true to say 
there is more strength, and stimulus too, in a 
loaf of bread or pound of meat than in a glass 
of liquor ; but the food works slowly ; the liquor 
works quickly. There are drinkers almost in- 
numerable among the better classes, who use 
liquor medicinally, as literally as other men use 
quinine. Their liquor habit never is an indul- 
gence ; they would as lieve take some other stimu- 
lant were it equally convenient and effective, but 
they do not know of any ; neither do their doc- 
tors. 

When men feel the need of stimulation, yet 
dread the use of alcohol, they will search for help 
somewhere else. With the nominal decay of the 
rum influence in the United States some years 
ago, began the enormous sale of bitters, ano- 
dynes, narcotics, stimulants, nerve foods, brain 
foods, and other nostrums of similar purpose, with 
which the advertising columns of a great many 
newspapers, including most of the religious week- 
lies, were filled, as some are at the present time. 
In the city of New York, where there is one rum 
shop to every thirty families, it is not a common 



Till': RUM POWER. 295 

experience to smell opium or chloral in tlie breath 
of the man next you in church or street-car or 
business resort. But in the State of Maine, 
which has had more experience with close pro- 
hibition than all the other States of the Union 
combined, it is hard to go into an}^ community 
of men without being made cognizant of the fact 
that resort to these stimulants is quite common 
in that virtuous State. I do not say this in con- 
tempt of Maine's effort to get rid of liquor. The 
prohibition movement in Maine has done incal- 
culable good in some directions. There is no other 
State in the Union in which young men have 
never been invited into bar-rooms, and do not 
know what public opportunity for drinking is. 

Do I mean to sa}?^ that alcoholic stimulants are 
absolute necessities of life ? No ; I do not, but — 
don't underrate the meaning of that little word — 
but the majority of our voters do, and majorities 
rule in this country. There is altogether too 
much indulgence and drunkenness — too much 
yielding to the desire to " feel good." The use 
of alcohol in large quantities has a bad effect 
upon the character and conduct of anyone ; the 
temperance men will give you all the dreadful 
statistics you like as tw the part rum plays in 
filling our jails, poorhouses and insane asylums, 
and God himself would shudder to tell us how 
many homes it ruins — how many widows and 
orphans it makes. On a division of the subject 



296 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

which is out of the province of statisticians, 
physicians will admit that more sexual im- 
morality comes from rum than all other causes 
combined. There is no fear of overstating the 
aggregate bad effects of over-indulgence in liquor 
— it is beyond the power of words or figures to 
overstate it. 

Having admitted that the curse of rum in the 
United States is quite as great as any moralist 
or prohibitionist has ever asserted, it follows that 
some remedy is necessary, and the question 
naturally occurs. What shall it be ? 

The almost unanimous repl}^ will be, Control 
the demon by law. The majority of law-abiding 
citizens are quite willing to admit that this 
should be done, but the question arises and be- 
comes more urgent year by year, What shall the 
law be ? Shall it be in the direction of prohi- 
bition ? The experience of several States, Maine 
no less than others, is overwhelmingly to the 
effect that prohibition does not prohibit. Per- 
haps not as much liquor is consumed in Maine 
as if there were open bars in every town. But 
anyone who is fond of a glass knows by experi- 
ence that it is quite as easy to gratify his tastes 
in the State of Maine as it is in the city of New 
York. Worse still, the stranger going from 
another State to Maine, if he has any acquaint- 
ances at all in the prohibition State, is so im- 
portuned by hospitable souls, who wish to make 



THK RUM POWER. 2*)7 

Mm feel entirely at home, and as comfortable as 
he might be if he were in his native city or 
village, and has set before him liquors in such 
variety, that he generally goes to bed with a 
heavier head and awakes in the morning with a 
harder headache than if he had been in the 
worst rum-cursed portion of the countr}^ 

Have I heard the arguments in favor of pro- 
hibition ? Well, can anyone help having heard 
them ? No project ever placed before the public 
has been more earnestly and persistently advo- 
cated. But where is the sense of demanding 
a law against which you know the majorit}^ of 
the people will be arrayed? Suppose during 
momentary enthusiasm a State carries a prohi- 
bition law by a small majority, some drinking 
men themselves being constrained by their 
neighbors to vote for the law and against their 
own inclinations, how is the law to be main- 
tained? By public opinion. Who creates 
public opinion? The majority. But the ma- 
jority drink, and will continue to do so for some 
generations to come, unless all signs fail. Every 
State has a law against bribery and corruption 
of voters. Is bribery or corruption less common 
than before the law passed? No; it becomes 
worse year by year. Why? Because public 
opinion dare not and will not support the law. 
Personal interest, expressed in party feeling, 
winks at its violation — not all the while, but 



298 '' MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

merely every time there is anything to be gained 
by it. 

Both sides of the prohibition question were 
well put in a recent conversation between a 
prominent prohibitionist and Bishop Foss, of the 
Methodist Church, who has worked industriously 
for years to decrease the rum influence, but 
believes restriction is the only means practical. 
" Bishop," said the prohibitionist, " if 3^ou saw 
a rattlesnake in the street, biting people and 
destroying human lives, would you kill it, or try 
to pen it up ? " The bishop replied, " If I had 
been chasing it up and down the street for thirty 
years, trying to kill it but never succeeding in 
doing anything but make it uglier, I would con- 
sider myself lucky if I had a chance to pen it 
up." 

Then should law take the form of restriction ? 
Yes ; but immediately the law-makers discover 
in the words of some satirist of the past genera- 
tion, that a great many men can be found in 
favor of a certain provision in law, who are against 
its enforcement by any method that is suggested 
in the form of a bill before any Legislature or 
Congress. A restrictive measure immediately 
affects a great many business interests. Moral- 
ists would like the sale of liquor restricted. 
Well, so would a great many liquor dealers. If 
a poll were taken of the wholesale dealers in liq- 
uors in the United States, regardless of section 



THK RUM POWER. 299 

or environment, it would be overwhelmingly in 
favor of limiting the number of rum-shops, and 
compelling the sale of only the better class of 
goods. Perhaps the wholesale dealers are not 
philanthropists, but their work is in the direction 
of philanthrophy in the respect that they make 
more money on old and well-refined liquors, and 
consequently would prefer that nothing else 
should be sold. 

Restriction can be attained in no other way ex- 
cept through license laws, and upon these at once 
the entire public agree to disagree. A license 
law that would regulate the traf&c in a large city 
would be utterly destructive of the entire retail 
liquor interests of the country districts. Conse- 
quently the country dealers, through their rep- 
resentatives in Legislatures, protest strongly 
against any such enactment as the famous Scott 
bill, which was of such great service in restrict- 
ing the liquor trade in the State of Ohio. The 
license exacted from a retailer in a large city 
would consume the entire profit of a country 
dealer, even if he were the only one in his town. 
City prices and country prices are different. It 
may be also stated upon undoubted authority, for 
the information of prohibitionists and other gen- 
tlemen who have never looked into the practical 
details of the liquor trade for themselves, that 
the countryman's drink compares with that of 



300 ^' MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE.'* 

the city man about as a full bath-tub does to a 
basin of water. 

After restriction, and lowest, though not least 
important, among the list of reformatory meas- 
ures, comes the principle of regulation. Can the 
liquor trade be regulated? Should it be regu- 
lated in the interest of morality and the public 
safety? Yes. We regulate everything else — 
absolutely everything — that affects the safety of 
humanity. We stipulate by law or special li- 
cense where dynamite factories shall be located, 
how dynamite shall be transported, where it shall 
be stored, how it shall be sold, and every other 
stage of the trade in this dangerous yet useful 
article of commerce. We regulate the trade in 
gunpowder ; there are very few States in which 
any minor is allowed to purchase any quantity 
of gunpowder or any other explosive. We regu- 
late the sales of poisonous medicines, no matter 
how useful they may be, forbidding the chemist 
to sell them except on a physician's order, 
and we make him keep them specially classi- 
fied, and label every package or bottle or box 
of them which he sells, and to record the name 
of the purchaser. We regulate even the speed 
of horses in large cities ; although ever}^ man 
is supposed to be able to take his ease and pleas- 
ure with a horse and carriage if he can afford 
them or hire them, in all large communities it 
is required that he shall not drive at more than 



THE RUM POWER. 301 

a certain pace. None of these regulations are 
regarded as abridgements of personal liberty. 
All of them are admitted to be necessary pre- 
cautions for the good of the entire community. 

Unfortunately the principal opposition to regu- 
lation, which is the easiest and most practicable 
method of reducing the dangers of the rum 
traffic, comes not from rum-drinkers them- 
selves, but from those who never consume any 
liquor — I mean the prohibitionists. Their prin- 
ciple seems to be the old, big-hearted, but ut- 
terly impracticable one of "a whole loaf or 
none." In a number of recent local and State 
elections, in which the regulation of the liquor 
traffic was concerned, the prohibitionists usually 
voted with the advocates of free rum, not that 
they love liquor or liquor dealers, but that unless 
they could have their own way they preferred to 
leave things as they were before. Their pur- 
pose, as nearly as it can be discovered, was that 
the more fearful condition society could be brought 
to by the free use of rum, the sooner would so- 
ciety protest strongly against it and take " the 
only true view," this being the prohibitionist's 
modest way of putting his own opinion. The 
Russian Nihilists, whom everybody detests, vv^ork 
on the same principle; — things can't be better 
until they have first been as bad as they can. 

The present influence of rum in the United 
States upon morals, manners, society, and poli- 



302 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

tics, must be charged upon those who have la- 
bored most earnestly to lessen it. Again I allude 
to the prohibitionists. They have discouraged 
every practical effort to abate the evils of the use 
of liquor. They have regarded all restrictive or 
regulative measures about as Mr. Garrison once 
regarded the Constitution of the United States in 
its relations to slavery — as a compact with the 
devil. The time must come when it will be not 
only unfashionable but indecorous and degrading 
for any man to use liquor, except in cases of 
sickness ; but when that time comes the people 
will owe no thanks whatever to those who have 
talked most against the influence of rum. Once 
more, and for the last time, I allude to the pro- 
hibitionists. 



CHAPTER X. 

NATIONAL DEFENCE. 

If Heaven helps only those who help them- 
selves the United States will be deplorably help- 
less the first time they fall into difficulty with 
any foreign power. 

Ever since the late civil war ended the general 
of the army has annually given us earnest and 
intelligent warning as to the incomplete state of 
our fortifications, and the inability of our artillery 
for ofiensive and defensive operations against the 
improved armaments with which other nations 
have amply supplied themselyes. The admiral 
of the navy has made similar reports. For a little 
while this looked like unnecessary precaution or 
what a distinguished Congressman once called old 
woman's fussiness. Hadn't we just triumphed 
over the largest armies that had been brought 
into the field, except by ourselves, in half a cen- 
tury ? Hadn't we organized a navy out of noth- 
ing, armed it splendidly, and done with it what- 
ever was desirable that the naval power of the 
country should attempt ? To be sure, our forts 
were few, but so were our harbors. The construe- 

303 



304 " MY COUNTRY, 'tiS OF THEE.*' 

tion of some of the harbor forts in the United 
States was admired by the engineers of all the 
other civilized powers only thirty years ago, and 
the public knew of it. To afterward be told that 
these splendid and expensive structures were of 
no use, that they were inadequate, that two or 
three guns on a second or third-rate ship of some 
second or third-rate naval power could knock 
them to pieces would have been humiliating had 
it not been enraging. 

Attempts were made from time to time, in the 
earlier years following the close of the war, to 
keep our military and naval establishment in fine 
condition. We had admirable staff departments, 
and large "plants" for the manufacture of almost 
everything required in ordnance and ammunition. 
We had the nucleus of a navy and army from 
which a peace establishment unequalled by any 
on the face of the earth might have been selected. 
But we let it all go. No such spectacle as the 
disbandment and disappearance of the great 
armies of the North and South was ever before 
seen, and historians have glorified in this. Sol- 
diers, however, whose opinions we may yet be 
called upon to respect, regarded the spectacle in 
entirely a different light. We had once before 
been caught — by England — napping in a most 
unexpected way, said these old fellows ; we paid 
dearly for our neglect ; but now we are repeating 
exactly the same blunder. Excellent men who 




n— r=^^ 



NATIONAL DEFENCE. 305 

were willing to remain in the service were allowed 
to go, material of every kind was disposed of at 
auction as rapidly as possible, and nothing was 
provided to take its place. The numerical force 
of the standing army was reduced more and more 
until even the Indians held us in contempt. In- 
dian massacres on the border have frequently 
been charged to the rascality or duplicity of the 
white men. Undoubtedly the Indians have had 
a great many provocations, but, so far as restraint 
through fear is concerned, they have been sub- 
jected to very little of this very necessary disci- 
pline. Large bands of armed Indians have been 
able to keep brave but small detachments of 
United States troops within small camps or forts, 
to isolate them and taunt them for days in suc- 
cession, to steal cattle, murder settlers, desolate 
the country, all because they had contempt for 
an army which was so small that it never could 
oppose more than a handful to any Indian raid 
which might suddenly be made. 

Just look at some, of the warnings we have had 
during recent years. In his last report as com- 
mander of the army (1887), General Sheridan 
said : " The condition of our sea-coast defences 
has continued to deteriorate during the year, and 
the majority of them, both as regards the mate- 
rial of which they are built, their location and 
present armament, would prove of but little real 
service in time of foreign war." 



306 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE.'* 

What was done about it? Nothing. 

General Sheridan further advised that we 
should adopt some modern magazine rifle for our 
soldiers, as all foreign nations had refitted their 
armies with these guns. 

What was done about it ? Nothing. 

General Sheridan further said : " I am strongly 
in favor of the general movement extending all 
possible aid to the National Guard of the different 
States, as they constitute a body of troops that in 
any great emergency would form an important 
part of our military force." 

What was done about it ? Nothing. 

Before Sheridan, General Sherman made clear, 
vigorous, sensible protests every year against our 
neglect to maintain good defences, but nothing 
came of it in the way of improvement. After 
Sheridan's death. General Schofield, the ranking 
ofiicer of the army, continued the good work; 
only two or three months ago General Schofield 
said in his report that the new guns we are mak- 
ing will make an increase in the number of ar- 
tillerists indispensable, and he urged the forma- 
tion of two new regiments at once. Does any one 
expect to see them ? 

Admiral Porter has been hammering away 
valiantly for years at Congressional thick-heads 
for the neglect of the navy, but it was not until 
the late Samuel J. Tilden gave his own party a 
blast on the subject did we begin to construct a 



NA'riONAt DEFENCE. 307 

navy. Even now there is persistent halting; 
Congress, regarding tlie navy, is like the girl of 
a certain class regarding her suitors — so anxious 
to get the very best that she is in danger of not 
getting any. 

Both political parties seem agreed on the re- 
duction of the regular army to the smallest pos- 
sible numerical force. While the Republicans 
were in power some officers of the army used to 
hope for a change of administration, and conse- 
quently change of party at the head of affairs so 
that the army might "have a show." But when 
the Democrats came in with President Cleveland, 
there was no perceptible difference, except that 
there was more trouble than before in obtaining 
ammunition with which to salute the flag morn- 
ing and evening. The army, small as its maxi- 
mum strength is according to law, has not been 
full in years, and there are grave doubts among 
some of the higher officers of the army as to 
whether it can be made full. 

Why ? Because men desert — run away at a 
rate unheard of in the army of any other nation. 
General Schofield, in his annual report, says 
there were two thousand four hundred and thirty- 
six desertions last year — more than teti per cent, 
of the entire army ! Fear of punishment seems 
to have no effect, and General Schofield felt 
obliged to recommend that a full half of each en- 
listed man's pay shall be retained until the end 



308 *' MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

of the period of eulistment. Isn't this a humili- 
ating state of affairs for the army of the freest 
nation in the world ? 

There must be serious reason for this anoma- 
lous condition of the military force. Our soldiers 
are better fed, better clothed, and far better paid 
than those of any other country. An American 
soldier receives, outside of his allowance for ra- 
tions and clothing, more money in a day than the 
British soldier can show to his credit in a week. 
His term of enlistment is shorter and his possi- 
bilities of dut}^ are pleasanter, or should seem so 
to men of intelligence. Yet to enlist, which is 
the first suggestion that presents itself to a man 
out of work in a foreign country, seems to be the 
least popular in the United States. 

Undoubtedly one reason is, that among the in- 
ducements to enlist, we are entirely lacking in 
anything that approaches the glory of war. Our 
only enemies are Indians, the meanest, most sneak- 
ing, most treacherous foemen that any civilized na- 
tion is fighting at the present time, and there is less 
glory in capturing one of them or a great many 
of them than in any taking of prisoners in ordi- 
nary war. The soldiers of other countries see 
at least a great deal of the pomp of war, if very 
little of its circumstance. Showy dresses, fre- 
quent parades, numerous occasions of display, 
encampment in the vicinity of large cities and 
towns, freedom to go about and spend money 



NATIONAL DEFENCE. 309 

among civilized people, are all inducements to 
men to join and remain in a foreign army at the 
present time. 

But what inducement is offered the Ameri- 
can soldier ? He is put in a camp of instruction 
as soon as he enlists, and sent to the border as 
soon as he is fit for service. The border is a de- 
lightful country, according to dime novels, but 
no sober man with his eyes open finds it any- 
thing but dull. It is a sparsely settled country, 
uninteresting to every one but the speculator and 
hunter. The soldier has nothing to speculate 
with, and is very seldom allowed to go hunting. 
Pie is kept within narrow bounds, sees almost no 
one but his own ofiicers and comrades, has noth- 
ing but camp duty to do, except when on long 
scouts outside camp lines, or, still more unpleas- 
ant, when detailed for police, gardening, or other 
laborious duties within the camp. It naturally 
occurs to the American soldier that if he is to 
work eight hours a day in building houses or 
stables, or digging wells, or throwing up em- 
bankments, or ploughing the soil, or hoeing gar- 
den crops for the benefit of the post, that he 
might as well be doing the same sort of work in 
the States at a dollar and a half a day, and have 
his freedom between sunset and sunrise. 

Except that police precautions against the In- 
dians are still necessary, the only excuse that any 
one, except the military officer, seems inclined to 



310 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

discover for the existence of our army at all, is 
that we should have a nucleus of a military es- 
tablishment in case of necessity. But what is 
the nucleus worth ? Two thousand of&cers, 
among whom undoubtedly are a number of the 
best educated soldiers in the world, constitute 
nearly all of our military force upon whom we 
could confidently rely in case of trouble. The 
enlisted man, taking him as an average charac- 
ter, is practically worthless at a time when the 
enlargement of the army may suddenly become 
necessary. In France or Germany of&cers may 
at any time be selected from the ranks. Of 
course the systems of the two countries differ 
greatly from ours. Conscription and the re- 
quirement that every adult man shall serve a 
portion of his time in the army, makes a soldier 
of every one. 

But is it not rather significant that the better 
class of men, to whom v/e would have to look for 
additional officers in case of the necessity of sud- 
denly making a large army, are seldom found 
among our own regulars ? Some of the reasons 
for this deplorable deficiency of valuable material 
have already been suggested. There is nothing 
to induce a man to enter military life, and the 
enlisted man is too frequently used as a common 
laborer. 

But beside this, there is a greater grievance. 
It is that ours is as aristocratic an arm.y as any 



NATIONAL DEFENCE. 311 

in the world, and that the distance of the officers 
from the enlisted men is so great as to be simply 
immeasurable. Volunteers used to grumble that 
some of their officers " put on airs." It is 
scarcely fair to say that regular officers put on 
airs, but it certainly is true that the enlisted man, 
as a rule, is generally treated by his superiors as 
a being of an entirely different order. Few men 
rise from the ranks. Some men now high up on 
regimental rosters used to be private soldiers, and 
a few instances of the kind occur nowadays, but 
the vacancies are too few to attract good men to 
the ranks. Let any one live at a military post 
a little while and explain, if he can, how any one 
with sufficient self-respect to be fit for military 
rank of any kind can bring himself to enlist in 
the United States army at all. 

All this could be changed, without increasing 
the numerical strength of the army, by an entire 
change of method which would not create any 
friction, disorganization or reorganization, but 
which nevertheless would encourage a better class 
of young men to enlist — a change which, indeed, 
would secure some of the very best in the coun- 
try. An army so small as ours should be in the 
highest sense a military school. There is noth- 
ing to prevent it. There is no army which has 
more leisure at its disposal or officers more com- 
petent to act as instructors. No army in the 
world has a greater percentage of highly edu- 



312 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

cated officers. No country can show a larger 
proportion of well-educated, restless, unem- 
ployed, aspiring young men. There is no en- 
gineering party for a railroad, a mine, a river 
improvement association, a drainage company 
or anything else requiring applied mathemati- 
cal and mechanical skill but can secure a large 
staff of intelligent young men at an expense 
not exceeding that of the ordinary soldier. 
These men generally work harder and fare worse, 
regarding personal comfort, than the meanest of 
soldiers, yet they are not only entirely satisfied 
with their chance, but elbow each other fiercely in 
their desire to get it. 

Suppose that instead of selecting men merely 
for their physical quality and their supposed 
capacity for obedience, the standard of admission 
to the ranks of the arni}^ should be as high as 
that of admission to West Point. Suppose the 
Government were to assure the people that the 
recruits would be treated as well as the cadets at 
the military or naval academy ; in an instant the 
army might have its choice from a hundred thou- 
sand intelligent, well-born, well-bred, honorable, 
aspiring young men. As already said, there is 
no trouble in getting any quantity of men of this 
class to go out under the control of engineers for 
hard and unpleasant dut3\ The inducement, be- 
side the financial compensation, is that they will 
be enabled to fit themselves, at least to some ex^ 



NATIONAL DEFENCE. 313 

tent, for the class of work wliicli their superiors 
are already engaged in. They are close observ- 
ers, earnest students, intelligent assistants, and 
the beginning of many an engineer, now prom- 
inent, has been in just such parties. 

The United States army might as well be one 
•great school of engineering and military tactics. 
It is well known that the mere company drill, 
which is almost all the drill the American soldier 
is ever subjected to, thanks to the distribution of 
the force in such a way that scarcely any regi- 
ment has been together within a single period of 
enlistment of any soldier in the army, requires 
very little time. It is no harder to become pro- 
ficient in than that of the militia of the various 
States and cities. Indeed, with company drills 
once a week, almost any militia regiment or com- 
pany can present a finer appearance upon parade 
than any but two or three "show" companies of 
regulars. The remainder of military life consists 
in guard duty, the details of camp duty and of 
applied engineering, which each man can learn 
as rapidly by experience as an equal number of 
assistants in a construction party anywhere else. 
It is known well enough at the West that the 
construction parties of railways contain, beside a 
mass of common laborers, a great many intelli- 
gent jT'oung fellows who have put on flannel shirts 
and cow-hide boots, have taken pick and shovel 
and wheelbarrow, not so much for the wages that 



314 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

are paid them as for what they are learning of 
the art of railroad building. If such men can 
put up with the treatment ordinaril}'- accorded 
the section hands of a railway constructing party, 
they certainly would be satisfied with the man- 
ners of officers of the United States army. 

But — and here is an important distinction — no 
railway boss, however much of a tyrant he may 
be, would dare to order one of his hands to cook 
his supper or wait at his table or groom his horse 
or do any other service of the quality commonly 
known as menial, but the American soldier in the 
regular army is sometimes obliged to regard such 
demands as a matter of course. 

A plan was suggested a short time ago, by a 
military officer of experience, by which the army 
might be reorganized on this basis without any 
additional expense and without any possibility 
of friction. Several years ago Major Sumner, of 
the regular army, himself a son of an old regu- 
lar of national fame, suggested a similar plan re- 
garding a single branch of the service — the cav- 
alry. His plan was to select from among the 
floating population of wild boys of the different 
cities a number of the more intelligent, and or- 
ganize from them a single regiment of cavalry, 
to be carefully trained and specially educated, 
the more promising and deserving recruits to be 
placed in the line of promotion, and all to be en- 
couraged to look to possible rank, responsibility. 



NATIONAL DEFENCE. 315 

and position as part of the compensation for the 
necessary restraint to which they might be sub- 
jected. This restraint could by no possibility 
be more severe and continuous than that of West 
Point. 

All that has been said about the army applies 
with equal force to the navy. When the appren- 
tice system was formulated there was hope ex- 
pressed by hundreds of officers who had served 
in one branch or other of the service during 
the late civil war, that it might afford a step- 
ping-stone to ambitious young men who wished 
to adopt a seafaring career, but were unable 
to obtain admission to the naval academy, or in 
any other way to gain a sufficient education 
in seamanship and gunner}^, which are the two 
principal requirements of the American naval 
officer. But if any number of naval apprentices 
have yet reached officers' uniforms or see be- 
fore them any hope of such advancement, the 
country has not heard of it; neither has the 
naval department. The boys are treated kindly, 
well fed, well clothed, educated to a certain extent 
and trained by officers carefully selected for their 
intelligence, forbearance, patience, and tact. But 
has any one seen any recommendation either to 
the naval department or to members of Congress 
that the apprentice ships should be schools for 
naval officers ? 

The consequence is that in case of our becom- 



316 *' MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

ing suddenly involved in war with any power we 
would be in as bad a position as we were when 
the civil war broke out. At that time there was 
a sudden demand for twenty times as many 
trained miHtary officers as the regular army and 
the graduating class at West Point could supply, 
and the demand became greater every month 
during the time in which our first million of men 
were enlisted. The scarcity of available mate- 
rial was so deplorable that many lieutenants of 
regulars were called to the command of volun- 
teer regiments. Did any one think to go to the 
ranks of the regular army for officers ? At that 
time there were in the army thousands of ser- 
geants, any one of whom, had he been in the 
militia in a corresponding position, would have 
been considered amply fit to organize, drill, and 
otherwise care for a company of a hundred men. 
But there were no such demands, and had they 
been made the proper men would not have been 
forthcoming to any extent. The lack was not of 
military skill, but of the many other qualities 
which go to the make-up of a soldier. And first 
among these is a high degree of self-respect — a 
quality which has never been nourished among 
enlisted men of the regular army of the United 
States. 

The real trouble is lack of proper public spirit. 
During a recent chat with Admiral Porter, that 



NATIONAL DEFENCE. 317 

fine old sea-dog and fighter bemoaned the lack 
of any proper public sense of caution. 

" Why don't you write up the subject j^our- 
self ? " I asked. 

*' Write ! " exclaimed the veteran, in his ener- 
getic way ; " I've almost written my finger-nails 
off, and do not believe it has done a particle of 
good. Nothing would please me more than to 
be able to infuse a patriotic spirit into the Ameri- 
can people — make them feel that they have a 
flag and need a navy to protect it. I wish we 
had some of the energy and patriotism exhibited 
by our forefathers, for, according to present in- 
dications, we will one day be humiliated by some 
fifth-rate naval power which will come to our 
shores and teach us a lesson. No reason exists 
why we should be exempt from war, for we are 
easily excited, and, like the school-boy, dare any 
one to knock the chip from our shoulder, though 
not able to fight." 

So say we all of us — all who give the subject 
intelligent thought. 



CHAPTER XI. 

I.ABOR. 

Laboring men — this is their own title for 
themselves — do not work any harder than the 
remainder of their fellow-beings. But those who 
come under this title as it is generally under- 
stood have some grievances that must be removed 
before several million men can transverse the 
long distance between dissatisfaction and com- 
fort. 

The Labor party, so-called, has made an ass of 
itself a great many times, but its blunders cannot 
change the fact that many of its complaints have 
a great deal of ground to stand on. The farmer 
who shoots the man that stole his horses may be 
a murderer, but that does not alter the fact that 
his horses, upon whose work depend his crops, 
his family's fate, and the ownership of his farm, 
have been stolen. So, when a railroad strike 
prevents thousands of travellers not owning any 
railway stock, not having any part or influence 
in railway management, from reaching their des- 
tination, the strikers may be absolute scoundrels 
in their disregard of the rights of their fellow- 
sis 



LABOR. 319 

men; nevertheless it is entirely true that their 
own wages may have been ground down to starv- 
ation basis, and consequently the men have a 
right to complain. 

Labor is sure to be imposed upon just as much 
as the laboring class will endure the imposition. 
The poorer the man the more necessary is it that 
he shall work in order to live. This being so, he 
is sure sooner or later to encounter somebody 
who will take advantage of him. No man need 
be a scoundrel in order to drive a sharp bargain 
if he gets the chance. To drive a sharp bargain 
is something that all of us rather pride ourselves 
upon. Probably the laboring man would do it 
himself if he got the opportunity. Nevertheless, 
the purpose and aim of the laboring man should 
be to be so "fixed" that no one can catch him at 
a disadvantage. 

Labor — that is, organized labor, must be in 
ceaseless conflict with the spirit of competition 
that prevails among employers. In every manu- 
facturing industry that admits of competition, all 
the way from making door-mats to building 
houses and railroads, men try by underbidding 
one another to get business. The energy of a 
new country is alwaj^s in excess of its capital and 
also of its demand. This is very encouraging so 
far as the outlook for energy goes, but it does 
work a great many wrongs and unpleasantnesses. 
In business it does not take long to reach bed- 



320 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

rock as to cost of raw material. After that, the 
strain of competition must come entirely upon 
labor, and, if labor does not resist, it must 
starve. 

Consequently the workingman must fight, and 
fight continually, to keep from being reduced to 
slavery in one form or other. The word slavery 
has a dreadful sound, but there are ways of 
muffling it so that the slave himself does not 
always see himself in a true light. 

It is only a short time ago that New England 
was thrown into a fen^or of patriotic indignation 
by the spectacle presented in one town of a native 
bringing a laborer in chains to the market-place 
to be sold. The owner regarded himself as en- 
tirel}^ in the right, and explained his position 
very distinctly. He had obtained his vassal on 
a contract that a certain amount of labor would 
be given for a specified sum of money. The sum 
was small ; nevertheless it was paid and accepted, 
and the man afterward imagined that he could 
escape from the terms of his contract. Conse- 
quently the employer, or purchaser, as he seemed 
to consider himself, put chains upon the fellow, 
and as literally brought him for sale as any slave 
was ever offered in any slave-mart in the world. 
The beholders rose in their wrath, dragged both 
men before the court, the slave was freed and the 
owner was fined. 

But the point is here : this was simpl}^ a case 



LABOR. 821 

111 which the slave-dealer, taking advantage of an 
ignorant, unthinking man, was found out. How 
many thousands of similar cases exist in the 
United States at the present time of which the 
public know nothing ? All newspaper men at 
the principal sea-ports know that people come to 
this country by the thousand on contracts to do 
a certain amount of labor for specified prices. 
The prices may be below the cost of living, never- 
theless the contracts hold good in all courts of 
law, and the men are obliged to do their duty. 
We are sorry for them, but, according to the 
practice of all countries, man seems to be made 
for the law and not the law for man. 

Do I really mean to say that slavery is pos- 
sible in the United States ? Why, such a ques- 
tion is behind the times, for slavery practically 
exists. What else but slavery can you call the 
condition of some of the coal-miners, tanners and 
factory hands of the United States ? Men with 
their wives and families go to a small town which 
practically belongs to their employer. They live 
in houses owned by their employer, buy their 
household supplies at stores owned by their em- 
ployer, take their pay in checks, tickets or orders 
signed by their employer, and get the remainder 
of their pay when their employer is ready. 
Suppose they wish to improve their condition 
and go away ; how can they move at all unless 
they have saved some money, the saving of 

21 



322 " MY COUNTRY, 'tis OF THKE." 

whicli, by a peculiarity well understood in all 
such localities, is simply impossible ? 

The method is practically that of South 
America. In some of our sister republics the 
laboring men who are on a plantation are called 
a consistado. Men are obtained, in the first place, 
by a small advance of money, and are told that 
they can obtain additional sums at such times 
as they may need them, provided the money is 
already due them for work done. But these 
laborers are improvident. When they wish to 
spend money, the employer good-naturedly — so 
it is supposed — allows them to draw slightly in 
advance, and by the laws of the country the 
laborer can never leave until his indebtedness to 
the employer is paid. 

In some of the South American republics 
there are consistados^ from which no man can 
escape to work elsewhere without being claimed 
and returned by forms very similar to those 
which prevailed in the United States under the 
old fugitive slave law in slavery times. If a 
workman on the plantation of Don Tomas re- 
covers from a feast-day celebration in a state of 
mind which leads him to run away and go to the 
plantation of Don Jorge, he is missed at roll-call, 
his absence is reported to his employer, and 
straightway a lot of notes are sent out to the 
owners of surrounding estates notifying them of 
the runaway and requesting them to return him 



I.ABOR. 323 

to his employer, who will pay the expenses in- 
curred by the return. The request is always 
honored, because what neighbor knows when 
some member of his own consistado may disap- 
pear in the same manner, and be, of course, 
slightly in debt to his employer ? 

The same state of affairs prevails practically 
in a number of our mining and manufacturing 
regions. Men who are paid only once a month 
or once in two months get advances from their 
employers in the shape of orders for family sup- 
plies upon stores in the vicinity, stores probably 
owned by the employer. So long as the pur- 
chaser is in debt he may be stopped if he 
attempts to leave the country, and if he goes 
alone, as usually he must, his family is unable 
to follow him, and, still more, unable to retain a 
home and get food, for the roof which shelters 
them belongs also to the employer, as does the 
only store which gives credit. Only a few years 
ago I met in the State of New York a tanner, 
who was said to be one of the ablest men in his 
business, who told me that he had been seven 
years in the town and house in which I found him, 
trying to work out his indebtedness to his em- 
ployer, so as to take his family somewhere else 
where they could have better society and where 
his children could have better facilities for edu- 
cation, but in spite of all efforts at economy he 
was still in debt to his employer. As the said 



324 '' MY COUNTRY, 'tis OF THEE.'' 

employer fixed tlie rate of wages, the tanner 
could not possibly see how his condition would 
ever be otherwise. 

This apparently anomalous feature of our 
civilization may appear to the reader to be acci- 
dental and exceptional, but it is not. In the 
larger cities the same conditions prevail under 
different forms. There are a great many shops 
in New York and other cities where men and 
women, principally the latter, work at starvation 
wages, and are so assisted by the pretended kind- 
ness of their employers that they always are in 
debt and cannot possibly leave without fear of 
suit and possibly arrest. The so-called slave 
marts of certain districts of the city of New 
York on Sundays are not overdrawn pictures, 
as the reading public may imagine them. There 
are hundreds of thousands of people so absolutely 
bound to their present employers that their only 
method of escape seems to be death. 

Public sentiment does not countenance slavery, 
though, and public sentiment is all-powerful? 
The will of the people is the law of the land ? 
Yes, yes ; that sounds very well. There is a 
good deal of truth in it, too, but the truth is all 
on one side. Public sentiment does not concern 
itself with anything which is not brought closely 
to its attention. Public sentiment in the United 
States did not countenance African slavery long 
after the Constitution was adopted, nevertheless 



LABOR. 325 

the institution grew and flourislied until it almost 
destroyed the nation. Public sentiment did not 
approve of any of the abuses of the colored race 
which individual overseers and owners might be 
mean enough to indulge in. Nevertheless, as in 
everything else, the public acted upon the old- 
fashioned principle of not interfering in other 
people's business. The general public does not 
handle the slaves, still less does the general pub- 
lic manage the employers. It hears once in a 
while of abuses and cruelties, and thinks these 
are outrageous, but they are not its affair. Bach 
man must look out for himself. Heaven helps 
those who help themselves, etcetera^ etcetera. 
There are a good many ways of getting rid of 
moral responsibility in this world, and nearly 
everybody is mean enough to take advantage of 
them when the moral responsibility does not af- 
fect any one of his own family, much less his 
own pocket-book. 

But can the condition of labor be improved ? 
Yes, if labor is entirely in earnest about it. 
Labor's principal need is brains. I don't mean 
they must increase their own brains ; but in 
their conflicts with employers the laboring men 
should be led, or their interests should be man- 
aged, by men who know both sides of the ques- 
tion. Are there such men in the ranks of the 
laborers ? It appears not ; if there were, such 
men would not be laborers at all. How many 



o2(> " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

meu there are whose hearts have been strongly 
stirred up by the wrongs endured by labor in 
the United States, who have longed for an oppor- 
tunity to assist the working classes with their 
sympathy and counsel, but who have been re- 
pelled again and again by the utterly unbusiness- 
like and senseless methods of the very men 
whom they desired to help ! During the strikes 
in the cotton mills of New England, a few years 
ago, it was remarked by a millionaire, a man of 
leisure, who desired to assist the operatives with 
his time, his money and his legal ability, that 
could he have such a faculty of working as the 
laboring class had of blundering he would be 
the greatest man who ever lived. 

There is no objection, on the part of Ameri- 
cans, to workingmen enjoying all proper rights 
and protection under the law; the only trouble 
is in unwise methods of procedure. President 
Cleveland puts the whole matter in a nutshell as 
follows : 

" Under our form of government the value of 
labor as an element of national prosperity should 
be distinctly recognized, and the welfare of the 
laboring man should be regarded as especially 
entitled to legislative care. In a country which 
offers to all its citizens the highest attainment of 
social and political distinction, its workingmen 
cannot justly or safely be considered as irrev- 
ocably consigned to the limits of a class and 



LABOR. ■. 327 

entitled to no attention and allowed no protest 
against neglect. The laboring man, bearing in 
his hand an indispensable contribution to our 
growth and progress, may well insist, with manly 
courage and as a right, upon the same recogni- 
tion from those who make our laws as is ac- 
corded to any other citizen having a valuable in- 
terest in charge; and his reasonable demands 
should be met in such a spirit of appreciation and 
fairness as to induce a contented and patriotic 
co-operation in the achievement of a grand 
national destiny. While the real interests of 
labor are not promoted by a resort to threats and 
violent manifestations, and while those who, 
under the pretexts of an advocacy of the claims 
of labor, wantonly attack the rights of capital, 
and for selfish purposes or the love of disorder 
sow seeds of violence and discontent, should 
neither be encouraged nor conciliated, all legis- 
lation on the subject should be calmly and delib- 
erately undertaken, with no purpose of satisfying 
unreasonable demands or gaining partisan ad- 
vantage." 

The press of the United States, as a rule, is 
on the side of abused men of any class, not ex- 
cepting laboring men who strike against oppres- 
sion of any kind or against reduced compensa- 
tion, but often and often within a very few years, 
within the memory of men who are still young, 
the press has been obliged by common-sense 



328 ** MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

alone to condemn strikes of men whose condition 
they regarded as deplorable, but whose imme- 
diate purpose was absolutely indefensible. A 
business man in a position which he does not en- 
tirely understand seeks the counsel of a lawyer 
or of some one who fully comprehends the case 
in all its bearings. The laboring man seems to 
think such a course unnecessary, and he suffers 
the consequences. 

Will any unions, guilds. Knights of Labor, 
help the workingmen to maintain such rights as 
they have and gain such as they need ? Yes, if 
there are brains behind them. " In union is 
strength," but strength may be just as effective 
in a bad sense as a good one, and the more of it 
there is the worse will be the showing made if 
the cause is not ju3t. If workingmen were di- 
vine, all their past efforts would have done a great 
deal of good, but they are only human, and there 
is no getting away from the fact that when any lot 
of men first are brought together through sense 
of wrong, their first thought is revenge, which 
never meets the public's views. " Vengeance is 
mine, saith the Lord," is an expression from 
authority so high that we are obliged to treat it 
with respect, and it is certain that during the 
present generation a desire for vengeance by any 
one or for any reason whatever has never called 
forth the sympathy of the public. 

Human nature is a very weak article. No one 



LABOR. 321) 

knows this better than the wise man who has a 
great deal of it himself; so in all quarrels he as- 
sumes that there is a great deal of right on both 
sides and that reconciliation or adjustment must 
be brought about by conciliation and compromise. 
The laboring man on strike is' not given to either 
conciliation or compromise. Whatever his wrongs 
may be, he has first endured them for a long 
time and when he has begun to complain of them 
his complaints have never been made directly, 
but simply are voiced among his felloM^s, then in- 
creased in volume. The argument on the other 
side has never been brought to his attention, and 
consequently he regards himself as the only per- 
son wronged and almost as the only person who 
has any interest in the matter in any way. It 
never occurs to him that his employer, like nine- 
teen in twenty of all the employers of the 
United States, is doing his business on the basis 
of general confidence and borrowed capital, and 
that what might seem fair to the employer as an 
individual may be utterly impossible when de- 
manded of the employer as a business man. 

In all the manufacturing centres outside of 
large cities the majority of employers do busi- 
ness with money borrowed from savings banks 
which have obtained this money by deposits 
from the laboring men themselves. An injury 
done to one is an injury to all. If labor goes 
back upon the employer, the banks also must go 



330 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEK." 

back upon him, and after this nothing but a very 
wise head can prevent injury to both. When 
upon such a complication there comes the spirit 
of revenge nothing but a special interposition of 
Providence can prevent injury for everybody. 

One fact that should be constantly borne in 
mind is that trades unions, no matter what their 
titular name may be, can nevei* be sure of sup- 
port from men in the same trade who have most 
sense and influence. Protests, whether with 
words or blows, are always made by the discon- 
tented, but the better class of workingmen are 
not of that variety. They either have better 
sense than their associates or make better use of 
the sense they have, so they are in positions with 
which they are fairly contented. Men who have 
been " inside " of a great many labor movements 
are no less vigorous in their denunciation of the 
stupidity of labor than the most earnest or most 
hypocritical employer that can be named. They 
say or they have said to newspaper men whose 
business it has been to interrogate them closely 
that "if" so-and-so had happened the results 
would have been different, but A or B or C, each 
of whom had a number of personal retainers, 
thought differently, and consequently the trouble 
was prolonged. Had certain other men in the 
business belonged to the unions or guilds, or 
whatever associations made the formal protest 
against wages or hours, or whatever the griev- 



LABOR. 331 

ances might liave been, tliere would have been a 
chance for compromise, or arbitration, or some 
other method which would have brought the con- 
flicting interests into harmony. But these men 
" stayed out," as the saying is. They were men 
who saw opportunities for something better before 
them ; consequently they did not intend to com- 
promise their own position and future prospects 
by taking part in a fight. 

Neither can the unions depend upon support 
from mechanics and laborers outside of the large 
cities and of villages and manufacturing centres 
which are tributary to large cities. The carpen- 
ter, mason and blacksmith in a country town 
feels insulted when asked to organize or join a 
trade union. He does not feel the need of any 
protection. He, with good right, considers him- 
self as smart as any merchant or manufacturer 
or capitalist in his vicinity, and he not only does 
not see the need of any protection against such 
people, but he thinks himself smart enough to 
overcome them all in matters pertaining to his 
own business. Experience proves that he is 
right. Such a man slowly but surely becomes a 
proprietor, and thus an employer himself The 
idea that he is alwaj^s to be a laborer is extremely 
distasteful to him, and even if he were convinced 
that such were to be the fact he would not admit 
it. He would feel that he would be voluntarily 
taking a lower level by making any such admis- 



332 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

sion. The natural consequences may be seen by 
any man who has done business in a number of 
small towns or villages. The journeyman work- 
man in au}^ trade whom he knew ten or fifteen 
years ago, in his beginning, is probably now an 
employer and a proprietor himself. Quite pos- 
sibly he has " struck a big thing," as the saying 
goes, and has money of his own ; his sons are 
being as well educated, his daughters as well 
dressed, as those of any of his neighbors, and his 
wife associates on terms of equality with the 
families of the judge or Congressman or whoso- 
ever else the local magnate may be. 

So far as labor expects to be helped by public 
sympathy, which is always on the side of the 
unfortunate and oppressed, it cuts its own throat 
by denying the right of any laborer to work at 
cheaper rates than his fellows. The abuses and 
indignities to which so-called scabs have been 
subjected have alienated public " sympathy " 
from labor movements to a most deplorable de- 
gree. No American, not even the millionaire, is 
free from the influence of competition in busi- 
ness, and the richest are sometimes those who 
suffer the most. Competition has been defined 
as the soul of business, and no one yet has been 
skilful enough to deny or modify the assertion. 
If employers may compete, if clerks, teachers, 
salesmen, lawyers, physicians, even clergymen, 
may compete with one another for wages or com- 



LABOR. 33') 

pensation for their services, why may not work- 
men ? Can any one imagine a body of clerks, or 
dry-goods salesmen, or lawyers, forming a clique 
and standing at dark corners with clubs and 
pistols to bully other men of their own profession 
into demanding certain wages on penalty of re- 
fusing to do any business at all ? 

" What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the 
gander." If one class of labor is entitled to take 
as much wages as it may get for such services as 
it can render, why should not another be en- 
titled to the same privilege ? It is very true that 
the laboring man often sees in free competition 
by a large number of men a possibility that he 
shall be deprived of his daily occupation. But 
whose fault is it ? That of the competitor who 
will work for lower wages or of the man who has 
done so little outside of his daily stint of labor 
as to be obliged to stand in the position of a 
highwayman or bully toward any one who can 
do the same work for less money than he ? 

Can law improve the condition of the working- 
man ? Can you make a horse drink by leading 
him to the water? The law has done a great 
deal for the laborers in many States by giving 
workmen a first lien upon the results of their 
work, but it cannot and will not compel the com- 
munity to regard the inefficient worker as the 
equal of the good one, which is the point upon 
which some trade unions and other organizations 



334 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

seem inclined to insist. Neither will it allow tlie 
employee to manage his employer's business. 
The employer may occasionally find himself "in 
a hole," where he must submit to any terms im- 
posed by the only men who can help him out, 
but if he gets in any such fix a second time his 
bankers and customers will go back upon him, 
after which he will have no use for labor at any 
price. 

Then can law and public opinion do more for 
laboring men than they have done ? Not much. 
Why ? Because law and public opinion are made 
by people who themselves work — people who 
stand just as much of this world's wear and tear 
as any common dirt-shoveller, to say nothing of 
any skilled mechanic. There are more farmers 
than mechanical laborers, and they work longer 
hours, but how often do they demand help of the 
law or the public ? In every large city there are 
tens of thousands of clerks who are driven to their 
utmost capacity at less compensation per day 
than the common laborer receives. It has been 
ascertained that a bank-teller who recently de- 
faulted was getting a salary of only six dollars 
per week, though he had long hours and great 
responsibility. 

Does not underpaid labor, outside the mechan- 
ical arts, frequently improve its own condition ? 
Yes, frequently. Well, how ? Why, by using 
its brains. If it were to insist that its whole 



LABOR. ■ 335 

duty was done when its daily work was over the 
public would laugh at it. The clerk, the teacher, 
the salesman considers it his duty to continually 
improve himself in order to be fit for such oppor- 
tunities as may arise. A man in any one of 
these positions who would spend his non-working 
hours in indulgence, carelessness, or, worse still, 
at the nearest beer-shop, would be considered by 
his employers as unfit for confidence and by his 
associates as a man who never would rise. If 
such men are so badly paid, so severely Avorked, 
yet are skilful enough to rise from the low finan- 
cial level upon which their work places them, 
why should not the laboring class in general rise 
in the same manner ? It is useless to say they 
cannot, because thousands upon thousands have 
done it for years. It has already been said that 
the mechanics of a few years ago are the em- 
ployers and managers of to-day. A great deal 
more might be said in the same direction, for 
there are great mills, factories and industries of 
the United States to-day controlled by men who 
were merely poor laborers at day wages a few 
years ago. The question is not one of a class or 
of an industry ; it is entirely one of individual 
manhood, and the man stands or falls by him- 
self The more he depends upon an association 
or his fellow-men the less strength there is in 
himself to resist injury or to make his way up- 
ward. 



CHAPTER XII. 

SELF-HELP FOR LABOR. 

If tlie laboring man doesn't want to be in a 
state of slavery, lie must refrain from putting 
himself into chains. 

He is a good deal like the rest of us ; he 
always blames somebody else for his condition. 
He wont be able to get out of trouble until he 
lays most of the blame on himself. 

If a man feels obliged to enter into business 
relations with a lion he does not begin by put- 
ting his head into the animal's mouth. If a 
workingman begins life with the belief, which 
seems prevalent now, that all employers will en- 
slave a man if they can, he should not allow 
himself to be in such condition that he cannot 
take care of himself. Why, even a dog or a cat • 
going into a strange room spends its first 
moments in looking around to see how it can get 
out again in case of necessity. 

Employers as a class have so many sins to 
answer for that there will be lively times for 
them on judgment day, I suppose, but that is no 
reason why the employee should be a fool. If a 

336 



SELF-HELP FOR LABOR. 337 

man sticks a knife into you, and is sent to State's 
prison for it, his sentence punishes him, but it 
does not pay your doctor's bill, or make up to 
you wliat you have lost in time and money 
while you have been lying in bed under the 
surgeon's care. 

The workingman is too often satisfied to do 
whatever is before him without fitting himself to 
do anything else in case of accident or change 
of business, or lack of demand, or any one of the 
various other accidents that may occur to disturb 
the even routine of his life. No man in any 
other line of business dare be so careless. There 
are clerks and book-keepers and men in the 
highest mechanical arts who are very good in 
their places, but who never fit themselves for 
anything better or anything else. These men 
are slaves — literally. Their employers know it, 
if the slaves themselves don't. No matter how 
honest they may be, no matter how capable they 
are in their own specialties, these are the men 
who ahvays are passed over when promotions 
are to be made, or when men are to be selected 
for higher positions. 

By a strange coincidence these are also the 
men who grumble most at their rate of pay, 
their hours, the amount of work they have to do, 
and the manner in which their employers treat 
them. Many of them are such good fellows 
personally, so full of human virtues that are not 

22 



338 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OI^ THEE." 

Specially business virtues, that they excite a 
great deal of sympathy among their acquaint- 
ances, but in the case of any acquaintance who 
happens also to be an employer there is no 
sympathy whatever. 

The American workingman, above all others 
on the face of the earth, needs to take this 
warning to heart, for one result of competition 
has been the subdivision of most varieties of 
mechanical labor to a degree which requires 
twenty or thirty men sometimes to complete a 
bit of work which once was done by a single in- 
dividual. Undoubtedly work can be done 
cheaper in this way, and both capital and labor 
have some obligations to fulfil toward the con- 
sumer, but the less a man is a " full-handed 
workman," which means that he can do all 
branches of the business in which he is en- 
gaged, the more necessary it is for him to be 
prepared to do something else in case of emer- 
gency. 

To illustrate : there was a time, almost within 
the memory of the present generation, when 
miniature painting was the most profitable divis- 
ion of art work in the United States. A fine 
miniature would bring more money than an oil 
painting. Suddenly the process of daguerreotyp- 
ing was discovered. Then came the ambrotype and 
photograph, and other cheap methods of making 
accurate likenesses, and as a consequence minia- 



SELF-HELP FOR LABOR. S89 

ture paintings became less and less In demand, 
and the few members of tbe profession who still 
survive Have none at all of the work at which 
they once were famous. Some of them took to 
drawing on wood, others went into oil portraits, 
some devoted themselves to water-colors, and 
others went into mechanical businesses where a 
good and accurate eye for color and proportion 
commanded good pay. But if the miniature 
painters, whose misfortunes were greater than 
those of any class of common laborers now com- 
plaining to the public, had insisted that the 
public owed them a living and they were going 
to have it, and that Congress should make laws 
enabling them to get a living out of their busi- 
ness, they would have been laughed to scorn. 
The miniature painters had no more brains than 
mechanics. What is fair for one is fair for 
another. 

One of the first things that the young labor- 
ing man does is to take a wife. A wife is a de- 
sirable object of possession. So is a horse, a 
yacht or a handsome house, but the man who 
would load himself with either while he sees no 
means of supporting it except by weekly earn- 
ings which might be stopped at short notice by 
any one of a dozen accidents to life or business, 
would be regarded as a fool. Some people would 
call him a scoundrel. Yet when financially 
pushed a man can sell a horse or yacht, and get 



340 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

at least part of the value wliile getting rid of 
responsibility. He cannot sell a wife, though^ 
even if he is willing. That sort of business has 
become illegal. Even if it had not, the proba- 
bilities are that a wife, taken by a fellow who is 
so reckless as to marry before he is able to 
properly care for so precious and complicated a 
bit of property as a woman, would not be in 
salable condition. 

The possession of a wife implies, quite im- 
plies, occasional bits of income, but also of re- 
sponsibility, in the shape of children. " He who 
has wife and children has given hostages to 
fortune." The rich man knows this to his cost, 
though he may get enough delight out of the 
experience to pay him a thousand times over. 
But to the poor man dependent upon daily 
wages, and with no property or savings to fall 
back upon, a family is often fetters, with ball and 
chain to boot. Thank God, such bonds often 
feel as light as feathers and soft as silk, but these 
sensations do not decrease the weight or drag- 
ging power one particle. If a man determines 
to marry while he has nothing to marry on, let 
him at least be honest with himself, tell himself 
that he is going to be the slave of whoever em- 
ploys him, and blame himself instead of em- 
ployers, or capital, or public opinion for the con- 
sequences. 

There is a large class of workingmen who do 



SELF-HELP FOR LABOR. 341 

not seem to think they are fit for anything but 
what they are doing. Snch men may be honest, 
cheerful, obedient, industrious, painstaking and 
obliging. Well, slaves have been all this and 
more. Such men are bound to be slaves. Noth- 
ing that trade unions. Knights of Labor, law, 
religion or public sentiment can do, can save 
them from practical slavery. 

The men who organized any State, county or 
town in this Union had no bigger or healthier 
brains than the workingmen of to-day; but if 
each of them had imagined he could do but one 
kind of work, the map of our country would not 
look as it does now. Any of these men con- 
sidered himself equal to taking a hand at build- 
ing houses, clearing land, shoeing horses, dig- 
ging post-holes, following the plough, planting 
corn, tending stock, loading steamboats, acting 
as deck-hand of a flatboat, carrying mails, or 
doing whatever else had to be done. They 
blundered terribly at times, but who did not and 
who does not ? Bach new kind of work they 
laid their hands to sharpened their wits and 
widened their view of what might be done in the 
way of getting ahead in the world. That is the 
reason why trade unions do not flourish in new 
countries. Men there have been taught by ex- 
perience to take care of themselves. The com- 
mon laborer in a new country thinks himself 
the equal of the judge, the doctor, the lawyer 



342 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

and the railway president. And so lie is, so far 
as a fair impulse and a fair show can make one 
man equal to another in the race for life. 

It is a great pity that representative working- 
men in our large cities cannot once in a while 
be sent on a tour of observation by their respec- 
tive trade societies. It is the custom of almost 
every man to regard every one in his own busi- 
ness as about in his own condition. But an ob- 
serving man going outside of the large cities and 
the manufacturing towns will quickly be un- 
deceived regarding the possibilities and future of 
his own business, or of himself, or of any of his 
associates who have any spirit in them. He 
may find men of his own specialty doing work 
longer hours per day and for less money than he 
is accustomed to get, and they may seem to be 
having terribly hard times, but there is one 
significant difference between the two classes : 
the men in new countries never grumble at 
whatever their hard times may be. If nature 
refuses a crop, or makes a river overflow and 
washes away a town, or a plague of locusts 
comes upon them, they can grumble quite as 
badly as any one else. But so "far as they have 
free use of their own wits and their own hands, 
they " don't ask nothin' of nobody," to use their 
own emphatic expression. 

The mechanic who works all day in the newer 
countries can seldom be found in the beer-shop 



SKLF-HELP FOR LABOR. 343 

at night. He drops into the post-office, or the 
store, or the office of the justice of the peace, or 
wherever he sees a crowd of men, or knows that 
men will congregate, so that he may learn what 
is going on. He will change his business six 
times in the week, and then be guilty of doing 
it twice on Sunday, if there is any money in it. 
You never know the business of a man in a new 
country for more than a week at a time, unless 
you have your eye on him. It may seem awfully 
stupid to the stranger, but among people where 
his lot is cast the workingman manages to keep 
his end up, as the saying is, and the man who 
attempts to depress that end is dealt with by the 
individual himself If a laboring man aggrieved 
in any of the newer countries were to go to his 
fellow-workmen for relief, he would be called 
either a fool or a coward. If he does not like 
what he is doing he is expected to tr}^ something 
else, just as every one else in the country does. 
The banker does not restrict himself to one 
single business, or one subdivision of business. 
Neither does the merchant, or the manufacturer, 
or any of the few farmers who have become 
" forehanded." He does whatever he sees most 
money in, and he has blind faith in his ability to 
do it. It may not be the finest variet}^ of 
finished labor, but that is not found anywhere 
except in the competitive trades. 

It should not need any argument to prove all 



344 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

this. There seldom is a great strike at any 
manufacturing centre during whicli a large num- 
ber of the operatives do not disappear. Some of 
them find work elsewhere in their own specialty, 
but the oldest inhabitant, or the village gossip, oi 
some one else who has time to pay close atten- 
tion to other people's business, can tell you that 
some of these men have struck out for them- 
selves in some other direction, and they very 
seldom are able to tell you that any such change 
of business has brought unfortunate results. It 
has already been said in this book that some of 
the great industries of the country to-day are 
managed by men who once were common 
laborers. 

However ignorant the workingman may be of 
the fact, or however willing he ma}^ be to ignore 
it, the truth is that the workingman half a 
century ago was a great deal worse off than his 
successors to-day. He worked longer hours, he 
got smaller pay — I mean smaller pa}^ in propor- 
tion to the purchasing power of money, and his 
social position was very bad. Even the Revolu- 
tionary war, the Declaration of Independence, 
the rights of man, and all that sort of thing, 
didn't break down at once the laws of caste that 
had come to us from the old country. It was 
not so very long ago that even the students of 
Harvard University were classified according to 
their ancestry, the list being led by gentlemen. 



SELF-HELP FOR LABOR. 345 

which was followed by the profession and theu 
brought up by the general assortment of what 
the late Mr. Venus called " humans various." 

The apprentice was not only household servant 
as well as work-boy to his employer, but he was 
kept in order by a strap or a club, and the law 
not only could give him no redress for personal 
abuse, but it recognized the right of the em- 
ployer to treat his boys in that manner. Boys 
brought up in that way had not much independ- 
ence when they became men, and the independent 
spirit of the present generation was a thing 
almost unknown in the more thickly settled 
communities at that time. The workingman in 
that day was more religious than his successors 
in the present generation, but when he went to 
church he sat in the poorest seats ; generally he 
sat in the gallery. When he was out of work 
he went to the poor-house. The poor-house was 
built especially for people of his kind. Perhaps 
in some of the large cities workingmen and 
their families go to the poor-house to-day, but 
most of them will take pains to go to another 
community than that in which they are known 
before they allow themselves to be supported in 
such manner. 

The people of the United States cannot afford 
at any price to support a class which proposes to 
stay in one spot, making no endeavor to go 
further or go higher, No grade of society can 



346 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

afford to support sucli a, class. The class itself 
cannot afford to remain in any sucli position. 
Allusion lias already been made to the willing- 
ness of men of the present generation to enslave 
their fellow-men when they get special oppor- 
tunity. The methods are not the same as of old, 
but the fact is the same and the practice is 
steadily fostered by the inability of a great 
number of men and women to impress upon the 
public any ability to be anything better than 
slaves. 

The workingman may take such consolation 
as there may be in the fact that this rule does 
not apply to him or to his own class alone. It 
exists everywhere. There are plenty of business 
houses who keep their men under their power, 
body and soul, by a custom, apparently founded 
on good nature, of lending them money in 
excess of their earnings. It is a modification of 
the South American consistado plan, to which 
allusion has already been made, and it works 
just as well in New York or Chicago, or any 
other manufacturing centre, as it does in South 
America. A man who will not spend his earn- 
ings in advance if he can get them is pretty hard 
to find. If this were not so there would be very 
little of running to banks, by business men, for 
discounts and loans, and " shaves." The im- 
pulse to discount the future is almost as old as 
the world itself It dates all the way back to 



SELF-HELP FOR LABOR. 347 

the Garden of Eden, when onr first parents 
began to devour some fruit which they were not 
yet entitled to. 

It may be that slavery sometimes is pleasant. 
Indeed, it often is. In spite of all the bad 
stories that were told about the treatment of the 
southern blacks during old slavery days, there 
were a great many plantations from which the 
slaves did not run away, even after they heard 
of the Emancipation Proclamation, and knew, 
from what they heard in the dining-room and 
parlor, that the South was on its last legs, and 
that the good old times could not possibly come 
back again. There were many plantations found 
by the Union army, during its tramps through 
certain States, which the masters and the mis- 
tresses had abandoned, but to which the colored 
people clung closely, from old association alone, 
and were found there when the owners came 
back again. Slavery exists still in many por- 
tions of the world, principally eastern countries, 
and Europeans of high character and close ob- 
servation have declared that the condition does 
not inflict cruel or unfair burdens upon the en- 
slaved. 

But this is a free country. All our institu- 
tions are based upon the theory that one man is 
just as good as another, and not only so, but 
that he ought to be expected to be as good as his 
neighbors, and that as soon as he ceases to be an 
11 



348 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

independent being, the master of his own time 
and of His own family, including all their in- 
terests, he is not equal to his duties and respon- 
sibilities as a citizen. We hear a great deal 
about votes purchased for money and whiskey 
and offers of ofiice ; but does any one realize how 
entirely the political status of certain States and 
counties and towns depends upon the opinions of 
even the temporary whims of certain large em- 
ployers ? There are thousands of men in each 
of at least three New England States who would 
not dare vote any way than they are requested 
to do by their employers. Fac-similes of cards 
and written notices have been printed to show 
that in certain mills the proprietors announced 
that their operatives were expected to vote for 
certain candidates which were named. If an 
American, an inhabitant of the freest country of 
the world, cannot vote as he pleases, what does 
his personal liberty amount to ? Even a tramp 
has a right to his own vote, or to sell it to the 
highest bidder, if he has been long enough a 
resident of the locality in which he attempts to 
deposit his ballot. There are slaves in banks 
and mercantile houses as well as in manufactur- 
ing establishments, so the laboring man need not 
leel hurt at the intimation that he is in danger 
of being subjected to an involuntary servitude 
which not only will control his time, but also his 
mind, to such an extent that he is not a free 



SELF-HELP FOR LABOR. 349 

agent in anything regarding moral opinion or his 
duties as a citizen. 

The principal outlet for the energies of the 
workingnian at the present time is undoubtedly 
in the newer parts of the country. There is 
where he is almost sure to be found if he is a 
man of proper spirit and has not handicapped 
himself so it is impossible for him to reach there. 
This outlet will be practicable for at least a gen- 
eration to come. We hear a great deal about the 
new countries being filled up and there being no 
chance for a man any longer, but some thou- 
sands of men who have footed it half-way across 
the continent can tell us differently, and show 
substantial proofs that they are right. 

The man who resolves not to take any heavy 
responsibilities upon his time or pocket until he 
considers himself fairly settled in life, can 
always make his way to the new country, and 
there in no part of this land, although it is not 
a land flowing with milk and honey, in which he 
cannot find something to do. I once was made 
curious, by the conversation of a number of 
workingmen in a large pork-packing establish- 
ment in a small town in the West, to know where 
they had come from, and what their previous 
occupation had been, and among twenty-seven 
men I found twenty-one businesses and profes- 
sions represented, not one of which was pork- 
packing. Nevertheless each of these men was 



350 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

earning two dollars and a lialf a day, and keep- 
ing an eye open for something better, whicli I 
am liappy to say I saw some of them realize 
within a few months. At that very time at least 
one-half of the trades which these men had 
originally learned, and in which they were all 
supposed to be experts, were languishing in the 
Bast, and a great number of those engaged in 
them were in that desperate condition of mind 
that in other countries has often precipitated 
riots and brought about bloodshed and prolonged 
disorder. 

But — let workingmen note the distinction — 
only two of these twenty-seven men were already 
married. What they had earned already was 
their own. They were able to move about from 
place to place until they found a satisfactory 
opening in life. Some of them afterward went 
to the dogs. It is impossible to find any lot of 
men together by chance in which there will not 
be some incompetents and some who, through 
one failing or other, would be their own enemies 
if they were in the best of hands. There were 
only twelve men in the first company of assist- 
ants organized by Jesus Christ, and one of them 
turned out to be a scoundrel in spite of the ex- 
cellent company in which he found himself. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

IMMIGRATION. 

Because this is a land of liberty a great many 
foreigners imagine it a land of license. To do 
tliem justice, they do not know any better. But 
we do, and it is our duty to teach them the dif- 
ference. If we don't, we, not they, will be the 
principal sufferers. 

The subject of immigration has been largely 
discussed by the newspapers of late, and a good 
deal of demagogy has been got off in Congress 
on the same subject. But sensible people are 
pretty well agreed that it is time to put some 
restriction upon the use of America as a common 
dumping ground for the world's offal and rubbish. 
This country is not an asylum for criminals or 
paupers. That ought to go without saying and 
it should not require any argument to prove, but 
it seems we have been very careless in this direc- 
tion. A short time ago the New York Herald 
said : "America is no longer to be considered the 
legitimate dumping ground for the paupers, the 
idiots, the insane and the criminals of Europe," 
and Congressman Ford, chairman of the Immi- 

351 



352 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE.'' 

gration Committee and father of the bill wliicli 
was presented in January, made the statement 
that " if the law could be strictly enforced I be- 
lieve our immigration would be decreased from 
these sources at least one hundred and fifty 
thousand per annum." This is an awful propor- 
tion of the aggregate of immigration, for the 
entire figure exceeds half a million per year very 
little. Still Mr. Ford may be supposed, from his 
position, to know what he is talking about, for 
his committee has spent a great amount of time 
in examining a great many witnesses who are 
supposed to understand the nature of the immi- 
gration to this country of the peoples of the 
whole world. But enough about paupers, idiots, 
insane and criminals ; everybody is agreed that 
we do not want them. 

Are there any other classes whom we do not 
want ? Yes ; we cannot afford to have the con- 
tract laborer. The native labor organizations 
have talked a good deal of nonsense about the 
foreigner, but not on this one subject. The impor- 
tation on contract of men to do a certain amount 
of work for a smaller sum than American citizens 
would accept, and to carry back almost all their 
earnings to be spent in another country, is a very 
successful way of making a nation poor. If we 
were to send all of our money to Europe for the 
purchase of supplies and Europe were to buy 
nothing of us in return, it would soon be impos- 



IMMIGRATION. 353 

sible to raise enougli coin to buy a postage stamp. 
Yet contract labor is a transaction of exactly the 
same nature, and it is increasing at a rate tbat 
may be estimated from the known ability and 
willingness of large employers to have work done 
as cheaply as possible, regardless of the conse- 
quences to every one but themselves. 

When, however, statesmen or politicians, or 
demagogues or well-meaning labor agitators or 
leaders, insist that skilled labor should be kept 
out of the country, it is to the interest of the 
community to firmly, persistently and indig- 
nantly oppose any such proposition. Lack of 
skilled labor is the curse of the country. Be- 
cause a man is employed on work which requires 
skill and experience is no sign that he is fully 
competent to do it. The tramps who bind the 
farmer's wheat, the cast-aways and chance laborers 
who build some houses in the West, the riff-raff 
who are gathered together occasionally to work a 
mine, or sail a ship, or do the work of a planta-- 
tion or a farm for a short season, are the most 
costly labor that could be employed, and a great 
deal of work supposed to be done by experts in 
the United States is almost as expensive. So 
long as we don't allow young men to learn trades 
— and that seems to be the rule at present — we 
must have men who have learned trades some- 
where else. Plenty of Americans can be found 
in New York city at half an hour's notice who 



354 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

complain witli real patriotic feeling that, wliile 
tliey would like all their own employes to be 
Americans, they cannot find a large number or 
even a respectable majority of natives who are 
sufficiently skilled to do the work for which they 
are called upon. The consumption of piano- 
fortes, for instance, in the United States, is 
twenty times as great, according to statistics of 
trade, as in any other country of equal population 
in the world. But in going through a piano fac- 
tory one might very quickly imagine himself in 
a foreign country. It is not that the manufac- 
turers are all foreigners, for they are not, or that 
they prefer foreign labor, or that foreign piano- 
makers work cheaper than those of native birth, 
but simply because we have scarcely any of 
native birth, although this variety of manufac- 
turing industry has been active in this country 
for nearly two generations. 

In many other of the mechanical arts the 
same lack of native skilled labor is manifested. 
The wall-paper printers, the engravers, the better 
class of weavers, and several other mechanical 
arts, which require the services of draughtsmen 
and colorists, are almost all obliged to depend 
upon men of foreign birth for their work. It is 
pleasing to realize that most of these foreign 
workmen are now naturalized American citizens 
and probably quite as loyal to the Union and 
the Constitution as any of our native-bom oper- 



IMMIGRATION. 355 

atives, but the probabilities are, that as they 
grow old or disabled, and have to be replaced, the 
new men must come from the same sources as 
the old. Between Americans not being allowed 
to learn trades, and Americans not being willing 
to learn trades, we are pretty badly off for 
mechanical labor unless we can depend upon 
foreign countries. 

We need not blame foreigners for this ; we 
have only our own selves to blame and our own 
people. The reason for the general dependence 
upon foreign labor, beside the inability of young 
men who wish to learn a trade to be allowed to 
follow their inclinations, is that the most of our 
own people are rapidly getting above anything 
and everything that does not afford an oppor- 
tunity for speculation. Beside, it is one of the 
inevitable results of the theory of social equality, 
a theory which must do a great deal more harm 
than it yet has done before we abandon it, that, 
as the wealth and prosperity of the country in- 
creases, and new opportunities of making money 
multiply, the sons of farmers and mechanics 
will be reluctant to follow the occupations of 
their fathers. We have heard a great deal about 
the unwillingness of the Hebrews to indulge in 
any mechanical or routine labor, and their 
avidity to enter all branches of trade where 
barter and sale are the principal occupations, 
but the modern American can double discount 



356 *' MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

the Hebrew in this particular and then get ahead 
of him about as often as not. 

There is no sign that the native-born Ameri- 
can youth will revert to the good old custom of 
his fathers, and endeavor to learn a trade, even 
if he were able to do it. It is unfashionable to 
work with one's hands in a country where most 
of the money is made by working with one's wits. 
The mechanic's son, and the farmer's son, and 
the day laborer's son gets as good a common- 
school education as the children of the richest 
men in the town, and has equal opportunities for 
going into mercantile business, or for entering 
the offices of business houses and corporations, 
and his own father will tell him that he is a fool 
unless he embraces these opportunities. No 
man gets rich by farming alone, or by laboring 
at day's wages at any mechanical occupation, 
whereas some men in trade and speculation 
amass great fortunes. That forty-nine out of 
every fifty finally fail and never get upon their 
feet again does not occur either to the youth or 
to his parents. Let us hope that some day it 
will, and that our young men will not be 
ashamed to earn their bread literally by the 
sweat of their brow. But the prospect at present 
for any such change seems exceedingly remote. 
Indeed, until the change occurs we will need all 
the skilled labor we can get from abroad. Unless 
the supply increases we will either have to give 



IMMIGRATION. 357 

Up some of our country's business schemes and 
prospects, or we will be obliged to offer a bounty 
or a premium to foreign laborers to come over 

here. 

We especially need foreign farmers and work- 
men for tbe instruction of our own farmers, and 
a large immigration of foreign agriculturists, if 
tbey could be sprinkled among our agricultural 
communities in tbe various States, would do 
more tban any proposed legislation to improve 
the condition of the American farmer. In bis 
efforts to get beyond bis strength and resources, 
efforts which are natural in all new countries, 
our farmer wastes enough to support another 
farmer. The Englishman, or Frenchman, or 
German, or Swede, can teach him how not to do 
this. There are a great many unprofitable farms 
near the city of New York, but when you see 
a small piece of ground tilled to the full extent 
of its capacity, and sending in large loads of fat 
vegetables to the city every day, you may safely 
bet that the proprietor is a foreigner. In one 
neighborhood very near New York city, a lot of 
discontented farmers are envious of the pros- 
perity of one fellow who is tilling only thirteen 
acres, yet who has saved enough money to buy 
three houses in the city of New York, each of 
which yields him a handsome income. And who 
is this lucky fellow? A highly educated Ger- 
man, or a scientific English farmer ? No ; he is 



358 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

a wretched Laplander, a man who is obliged to 
be ashamed of the province which gave him 
birth, and who poses among acquaintances as a 
Swede. He was a common farm laborer in his 
own country, and came here with very little 
more money than would pay his board at a den 
near the Battery for two or three days until some 
one should employ him. But he had learned 
how to turn every scrap of soil to the best ad- 
vantage, how to make the most of all fertilizers, 
and how to get the largest number of crops oiit 
of a given amount of soil in a given time. 
During the agricultural depression of Great 
Britain a few years ago, which followed several 
successive wet years, a number of English 
farmers sold out at a sacrifice, came over here 
and located wherever best they could, and it is 
astonishing to see how fast some of these men 
have got along, and how well fixed they now are, 
as the saying is. They didn't seem to be very 
smart fellows. In a horse-trade, or a shooting- 
match, or a political squabble, the best of them 
cannot hold his own for five minutes with an or- 
dinary American. But when it comes to farm- 
ing so as to make every resource of the estate 
count for all that it is worth, they leave the 
American farmer far behind. 

Nevertheless, we need to restrict and regulate 
more systematically, and with more rigor than 
we ever did it before. Of course we have the 



IMMIGRATION. 359 

right to refuse absolutely undesirable immigrants. 
No one can deny this with any show of reason, 
and if we would fight to maintain this principle 
no nation could blame us. But we also have the 
right to deny citizenship to workmen coming 
from any portion of the world, until we are satis- 
fied that they intend to become citizens, and that 
they will be desirable acquisitions. We are quite 
competent to keep up our own supply of idiots, 
and paupers and criminals. No nation has a 
monopoly of that sort of thing, and we do quite 
as well in that way as could be expected of us, 
and far better than suits our tax-payers. For the 
freedom of mind and body, and the prospects of 
founding homes for all of his posterity, an honest 
man should be willing to remain in this country 
a long time before claiming full rights of citizen- 
ship. There never were any complaints under 
the old rule, which required a very long term of 
probation, and there would be none under the new. 
Property rights of aliens are respected quite as 
much as those of natives, and there is no other 
right in which our laws distinguish between the 
native and the foreigner. A chance tourist arriv- 
ing here and getting into legal difficulty of any 
kind has quite as good a chance of obtaining 
justice as the richest man in the nation. This 
is not an American idea, for foreigners themselves 
have said the same. Intelligent foreigners, 
makers of opinion on the other side of the water, 



360 " MY COUNTRY, 'TiS OF THEE." 

tave marvelled again and again in speecli and in 
print at the carelessness with which America 
admitted all classes of foreign-born persons to the 
rights of citizenship, and have declared that were 
citizenship rights to be delayed until the second 
generation came of adult age, there would be 
nothing in the law or customs of the country 
which would give a foreign-bom resident any 
reason for complaint. 

Unless we restrict immigration there is nothing 
to prevent any foreign nation, desiring to pick a 
quarrel with us so as to steal some of our property, 
or have some of her own troublesome inhabitants 
disposed of by bullet wounds, or "to weld the 
people together " when they are pulling every 
which way, from sending a few carefully selected 
men here for the express purpose of fitting out a 
pretended dynamite expedition or something of 
the kind, for which the United States would be 
called to account. But that is only part of what 
they Can do. At the present day every German 
and Frenchman under middle age has received a 
military training. There is nothing to prevent a 
few thousand picked soldiers, with their officers, 
being sent here in small parties in the guise of 
ordinary immigrants, to rally and rise at a given 
signal, seize some of our cities, forts and navy- 
yards, overcome our make-believe army and es- 
tablish a reign of terror, from which we could 
not release ourselves speedily without ransom. 



IMMIGRATION. 



361 



They could find arms and munitions of war with- 
out the slightest trouble, for such things are on 
sale to every purchaser in every village in the 
land, and when desired in large quantities they 
can be purchased from any of our large manu- 
facturers without the purchaser first undergoing 
the formality of answering unpleasant questions. 
As for commissariat, they could live on the land. 
There is no portion of it from which a body of 
armed men could not obtain all they need in the 
way of food and clothing. There would be no 
difference between such a movement and the 
insurrections by which almost all of the older 
nations have suffered from time to time — insur- 
rections some of which have been dignified by 
success to the rank of revolutions. The mobs 
which started the French revolution had a large 
army to oppose them, and they had little oppor- 
tunity for arming and organizing themselves, 
nevertheless they succeeded in overturning one 
of the oldest monarchies in the world, and ap- 
parently one of the strongest. 

Among the classes whom we must most reso- 
lutely exclude from this country are those which, 
in good earnest and with justifiable sense of 
wrong, but nevertheless with utter disregard of 
the land of their adoption, organize disturbances 
to be carried on in the lands from which they 
come. Russian nihilists, disaffected Canadians, 
Irish dynamiters, French socialists and anar- 



362 '* MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THHK ' 

chists, and all tlie other broods of disturbers of 
the peace of foreign lands are out of place in the 
United States. Many of them have abundant 
cause for the hatred which they manifest toward 
the governments from which they have escaped. 
Most of them have the sympathy of the people 
of the United States, to the extent of wishing 
that desirable reforms might be accomplished in 
lands where any classes are wrongly treated or 
find themselves at disadvantage in comparison 
with other classes more favored. But this coun- 
try cannot afford to be a hot-bed of discontent 
from which the germs may be sent abroad. 
When the time for accounting comes, the bill 
will not be sent to the disturbers, but to the 
nation which harbored them. We have been 
dangerously near w^ar with Great Britain two or 
three times on account of the operations of the 
large class generally known as Irish sympa- 
thizers. There is probably no class of foreign- 
born residents of the United States who have 
more reason in law and morals for the feeling 
which they manifest than these same Irish 
sympathizers. But when they come here as 
citizens the safety of this country, which we have 
the right to regard as an interest paramount to 
that of any other which may exist in the hearts 
of our people, must rank first. If this class or 
any other class of disturbers of the peace of 
foreign countries persist in their agitation on this 



IMMIGRATION. 363 

side of the water, it is the duty of the nation to 
expel them. Where they may go is an important 
question to them, but it is not one with which 
we can afford to concern ourselves. Perhaps 
there may be individuals among us who would 
take personal friends into their families with the 
understanding that they came there for the sole 
purpose of making trouble with their families ; 
but nations have none of that sort of disinterested 
philanthropy. The few that have tried it cannot 
be found to-day on the maps of any well-edited 
atlas. 

The United States has nothing to fear from 
honest, well-meaning immigrants, no matter how 
stupid they are. Transplanting does wonders 
for wild-wood trees and shrubs that amount to 
nothing in their native wastes, and the improve- 
ment which some unpromising foreign stock has 
often made in this country recalls the traditional 
remark of the Bad Habit to the Small Boy : " Look 
at me now and the day you got me." Some of 
the most exquisite gentlemen and able men of 
our land descended from clodhoppers of no one 
nationality, who came to this country only a 
generation or two ago. Some of the wisest and 
grandest spirits of our revolutionary periods were 
descendants of articled servants who came awa}^ 
not many years before. But, pshaw ! Which of 
us who has not pure Indian blood in his veins 
did not descend from immigrants who a little 



364 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE.'' 

while ago were so badly off in tlie old country 
tliat tHey Had to move to get enough to eat and 
wear? Some self-appointed aristocrats may ex- 
cept to this general classification, but either they 
lie or they don't know why their ancestors came 
here. No foreigner who is living comfortably at 
home, and who has nothing to be ashamed of, is 
going to a new country unless he has some un- 
rest in him which will make him a nuisance if he 
remains at home. Of course political annoy- 
ances have been influential in sending us many 
immigrants, but very few from the classes who 
have any possible excuse for thinking themselves 
better than other men. The development of fine 
natures from very rude stock in the United States 
has been so marvellous in some of its instances 
as to deserve a large book specially devoted to 
the subject. A little while ago it was discovered 
that a famous judge, whose opinions and rulings 
are held in respect in courts of every State of 
this Union, was the son of a pauper immigrant. 
A gentleman who was very favorably mentioned 
a few years ago as a candidate for the Presidency 
of the United States said himself that his father, 
who was an immigrant, was so poor that the son 
went to school without breakfast for five succes- 
sive years, and acquaintances of this estimable 
and highly cultivated gentleman, who stood at 
the very head of one of the most learned profes- 
sions, said that the father was unable to read or 



IMMIGRATION. 



365 



write at t&e time of Hs deatli. The population 
of the State of California started with men of all . 
classes from all parts of the world. Probably 
more adventurers and worthless men took part in 
the rush for gold than can be found in all the 
state-prisons of the United States at the present 
day. Yet the descendants of some of these very 
objectionable characters are to-day men of promi- 
nence and character. The natives of that State 
attributed this wonderful change to the "glorious 
climate of California." But it is not necessary 
to make any such explanation. Cases of the 
same kind, though not perhaps in so large pro- 
portion, can be found in all the States of the 
Union. It is impossible that it should be other- 
wise. Whatever may happen to the original 
immigrant, his posterity has as fair a chance as 
that of any native. His children go to the same 
schools, the same churches, they mingle freely 
with all persons of their own age, have the same 
interests, same impulses, aspirations, and oppor- 
tunities. 

There is another great promise to this country 
also through its immigrant population, which 
may not be announced as a fact, but which cer- 
tainly has a great deal of probability in it. Mr. 
Darwin, who in tracing the descent of species 
seemed to interest himself in the descent of 
everything else, explained once the method by 
which forests suddenly appear upon some tracts 



366 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

of land which apparently had been long destitute 
, of any of the larger varieties of vegetation. He 
found upon examination of one such tract that 
while the arboreal shoots which had first come 
into view that year were small, they nevertheless 
had enormous roots. Ploughing and cultivation 
had kept the soil above these roots broken for a 
great many years, or cattle in grazing over the 
ground had kept everything nipped short. Nev- 
ertheless the roots or germs were there, and 
through the very process of repression seemed to 
accumulate a strength which they put forth, when 
they were allowed to do so, as if they were 
making up for lost time, which was exactly the 
deduction which Mr. Darwin made in longer and 
more scholarly form. It is known to breeders that 
the strain of families of various species is fre- 
quently improved by infusion of the blood of an 
animal of the sort commonly known as a "runt;" 
that is, one which has been stunted in its growth. 
The average immigrant is a man who has been 
repressed for generations and perhaps for cen- 
turies. When his opportunity for development 
comes he really seems to have the capacity to 
make up for lost time. There is no other way 
of explaining the wonderful improvement in 
many thousands of American families of foreign 
extraction. There have been some amusing re- 
sults of efforts of men, suddenly become promi- 
nent and deservedly so, in tracing their ancestry. 



IMMIGRATION. 367 

They learned wliat Burns once expressed about 
himself after he had made similar investigations : 

"Through scoundrels' blood 
My race has crept, e'er since the flood." 

The wonderful virility and prosperity of the 
Hebrew in this country, as well as in those 
European countries where he has been allowed a 
chance beside his fellow-men, cannot be explained 
except upon this theory of accumulated strength 
during long periods of repression. 

Americans can stand all this sort of thing that 
Europe can bless us with. According to stat- 
isticians it costs two or three thousand dollars to 
bring a child from the cradle up to adult age and 
working power. Consequently every able-bodied 
foreigner we get who is willing to work is worth 
two or three thousand dollars to our nation and 
is so much capital in our pockets. Let us have 
all we can of them. The men who complain of 
them are those who are not capable of taking 
care of themselves. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

ANNEXATION. 

This country has many important duties to 
fulfil in tlie family of nations, but annexation 
of other lands is not one of them. 

The contrary opinion is sometimes expressed, 
but the sooner we sit down upon it the less likely 
we are to neglect our own business. 

iVnnexation is an old business, and sometimes 
it has been profitable ; but the nations who best 
understood it have but few of their old posses- 
sions left, and they would get rid of some of 
these, if they could without being laughed at. 

What nations could we stand any fair chance 
of annexing? Perhaps Mexico, Canada and 
some of the West India Islands. What could 
be done with them ? Nothing that, in the long 
run, would benefit us. What would they do 
with us ? They would merely introduce discord- 
ant elements that would not help us a particle in 
making our own national position secure. Our 
country is so large already that there are jarring 
interests making themselves felt and known in 
Congress, in the press, in public opinion, and 

368 




ADMINISTRATION' KUILDINC. 



ANNEXATION. 369 

witli all the efforts that have been made they are 
approaching solntion at so slow a rate that a 
number of the advocates of one side or the other 
are discouraged and indignant. There are a 
great many brilliant theories of what might be 
done by the annexation of this or that country 
by the United States. But an ounce of fact is 
worth a ton of theory, and fortunately we have 
enough facts to keep us for a long time in exam- 
ination if we will take the pains. 

The ancient nation called Rome was the 
champion annexer of the world. She annexed 
every territory that it was possible for her sol- 
diers to reach, and at one time the entire world 
owed allegiance to Rome. It was practical alle- 
giance, too, because we read in the Gospel 
according to St. Matthew that in the days of 
Augustus Csesar there went out a decree that all 
the world should be taxed. To collect taxes 
from annexed countries is more than some mod- 
ern nations have ever been able to do. The mil- 
itary and political prestige of Rome was after- 
ward strengthened by religion. Rome ruled the 
souls as well as the bodies and estates of men, 
but even the Holy Roman empire went to pieces. 

Greece did a great deal of annexing in the 
days of Alexander, who penetrated farther into 
the civilizations of the East than the legions of 
the Caesars ever did, but Greece to-day is a mere 
spot upon the map. 

24 



370 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

But it is not necessary to go so far back. The 
great colonizing and annexing scliemes of the 
world, when nation after nation became numer- 
ous and free enough to compete with each other, 
began soon after the discovery of America. 
Nearly every European power planted colonies 
in some portions of the new world. Most of these 
powers exist and are strong to-day. But where 
are their colonies ? England has Canada to be 
sure, simply because she does not know how to 
get rid of it. But Spain has not a foot of ground 
upon the mainland of America, and holds her 
island possessions by very uncertain tenure. 
Look at Cuba, " the ever-faithful island," as she is 
called, with the greatest extremity of sarcasm. 
The majority of the inhabitants detest the mother 
country and all the officials she sends out there, 
her taxes are paid grudgingly, again and again 
a large minority of the inhabitants have struggled 
to free themselves from the Spanish yoke, and 
the struggle will probably continue in view of 
the illustrious examples set by Mexico and all 
the South American republics. Perhaps you will 
say that Spain is a bankrupt old brute. Well, 
that is not overstating the matter at all. But 
look from Spain to Holland. The Dutch have 
not been cruel taskmasters. They have planted 
a number of colonies, and their paternal govern- 
ment, if characterized by thrift, has also been 
unstained by any of the cruelties and brutalities 



ANNEXATION. 371 

wHcli have made the name of Spain a synonym 
for savagery. How many of Holland's colonies 
remain in the possession of the mother country ? 
None of any consequence except the island of 
Java, and Java is no longer a treasury for Hol- 
land. 

France at one time had large colonial posses- 
sions. She owned nearly one-half of the territory 
now embraced by the boundaries of the United 
States and all of Canada beside. France has now 
a few insignificant islands and some undesirable 
swamp-land in Africa, which is valuable chiefly 
as a place to send military officers who are so 
ambitious at home as to be somewhat trouble- 
some. Sweden has no colonies at all. Denmark 
has two or three little islands near the Equator, 
and has an elephant on her hands in the shape 
of Iceland. 

But, you say that England is an exception to 
all these relations. Well; is she ? Do facts and 
figures justify the assertion? The most peace- 
able portion of the British empire at the present 
time is the Dominion of Canada. Canada gives 
England absolutely no trouble on her own part. 
Australia is about as good. But of what use is 
either country to England except as a resort for 
dissatisfied Englishmen who wish to begin life 
anew somewhere else? — an opportunity which 
they could have equally well if England didn't 
own a particle of soil outside the British islands. 



872 "my country, 'tis of thee." 

But England lias a large empire in the East. 
She holds nearly all of India. Yes ; but how 
does she hold it ? Some of it by absolute posses- 
sion, and a great deal through protectorates and 
treaties, through iutrigues with native princes 
and by other means which the people of the 
United States would think beneath the dignity 
of our own country to exercise anywhere else. 
We know what happened in India a few years 
ago when great masses of people rose against 
English rule, and gave us the most horrible de- 
tails of war that this century has ever heard of 
England's unrest and uneasiness about her pos- 
sessions in India can be seen by any one who 
reads the English newspapers or magazines or 
reviews. Some phase or other of the Indian 
question is continually popping up, and there 
never is anything in it to pacify the national un- 
rest as to the future of the two countries. The 
possibility of assimilation of the population of 
India and England is laughed at by Englishmen 
of all degrees. Britons will not live in India un- 
less they are compelled to do so, and also coaxed 
by compensation such as Englishmen never ex- 
pect to receive at home. Even in the days of 
"John Company" it was impossible to keep an 
army there without double pay. I am not cer- 
tain about the private soldiers, but the officers 
received their pay from the home government and 



ANNEXATION. 373 

an equal~amount from fhe company, and even 
then the majority of them were discontented. 

As for the natives liking England or English 
habits or English customs, it would be unreason- 
able to expect it, even did not facts prove that it 
is impossible. Native Indians of wealth and 
intelligence frequently visit England but very 
few remain. What is called the superior civiliza- 
tion of the West has no charms for them. And 
they don't take English customs and principles 
home with them to disseminate among their own 
class and the orders beneath it. Many intelligent 
natives will admit that portions of the country 
are better ruled than they were under the native 
princes a hundred or more years ago. But at 
heart the feeling is that the old ways, if not the 
best, are certainly the most desirable and the 
most fitted to the nature of the people. England 
is in chronic fear of uprisings and disturbances. 
Her most statesmanlike public officials and her 
ablest soldiers are sent to India; not enough of 
them can be spared even to cross the channel to 
Ireland. 

And, speaking of Ireland, which is another of 
Great Britain's annexations, is there a more 
prominent and damning disgrace existing in the 
name of any civilized government of the world ? 
It is not necessary to go over the Irish question 
at all. Every man knows enough about it to 
know that England's rule of Ireland has been an 



374 " MY COUNTRY, 'tis OF THKK." 

entire and disgraceful failure, and that with 
ample opportunities for colonization, for main- 
taining military establishments, for pacifying the 
people, England has persistently and continu- 
ously failed to make Ireland anything but a hot- 
bed of hatred. 

Where England is at peace with her colonies, 
what price does she pay ? Why, she simply 
makes them almost absolutely independent of 
the home government. Except nominal alle- 
giance to the mother country and the acceptance 
of a viceroy, governor-general, or representative 
of the throne by some title or other, these coun- 
tries are almost as free of England as the United 
States. They have their own parliaments, elect 
their own ofBcials, make their own laws, assess 
their own taxes, and even perpetrate huge tariff 
lists, under which the products of the mother 
country are obliged to pay handsomely for being 
admitted at all. The only bond between Canada 
or Australia and England is one of affection to 
the mother country. This sometimes endures to 
the second generation, but there is precious little 
of it in the third. You can easily enough find 
that out for yourself by going up to Canada and 
becoming acquainted in almost any town in the 
Dominion. It seems farcical, but it is neverthe- 
less a fact, that the best English citizens in Can- 
ada are Frenchmen, descendants of the original 
settlers who fought England furiously and often 



ANNEXATION. 375 

successfully for more tlian a hundred years. 
And the only ground for the loyalty of these 
people is apparently that there is no other place 
for them to go, and no way to take with them 
what little the}^ possess. 

Australia is just as independent as Canada. 
If she should attempt to secede and declare her- 
self as independent as she really is, England 
would probably send down fleets and armies, and 
there would be war for a long time, with the same 
result in the end that followed the attempt to 
change the opinions of the thirteen colonies who 
organized this nation of ours. England's rule of 
the United States certainly was not severe. Now 
that the spirit of the Revolution has been watered 
out through two or three generations, it is per- 
fectly safe to admit that England never took as 
much money out of this country as she put into 
it. So, regarded as a business enterprise, annex- 
ation or colonization did not pay here. As soon 
as she began to demand taxes from the colonies 
the revolt began. The question of her moral 
right is one that is not discussed now. Discus- 
sion would not do any good. But if taxes cannot 
be levied upon a colony or an annexed country, 
of what possible service is the new land to the 
old? 

Well, what is our lesson from all this ? What 
would be the result of our annexing either Mex- 
ico, Canada, or Cuba, for instance, to say nothing 



876 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

of the small republics in the Caribbean Sea and 
in Central America, toward whicli some of our 
demagogues have occasionally pretended to cast 
longing eyes, and found a few fools to encourage 
them in doing so? It would be utterly impossible 
under the spirit of our institutions for us to treat 
any such land as a conquered country. The 
Declaration of Independence would have to be 
completely overturned before we could consist- 
ently enter upon any such custom. The most 
that we could do would be to admit these coun- 
tries as portions of the Union. We would scarcely 
pretend to obtain them by force for this purpose, 
but if we were to want to get them peaceably, 
what would be the only method? Why, by 
granting them equal rights wath our own citizens. 
Successful annexation would depend upon the 
acquiescence of the majority of the inhabitants 
of the countries alluded to. These people, like 
people everywhere else, have leaders of their own. 
All leaders have aspirations and personal ambi- 
tions, and personal pockets which never are suffi- 
ciently full. We would have to provide for them 
first before we could be certain of the people. 
We would be obliged to divide each country into 
States bearing some proportion of population to 
those which we already have. We would be 
obliged to give them representation in both Houses 
of Congress, provide judicial systems for them, 
and in every way recognize them as our equals, 



ANNEXATION. 377 

Now, tlie truth is, no sane American believes 
the people of any of those countries to be equal 
to those of our own. There are intelligent Mex- 
icans and Cubans and Canadians, but we as a 
body have very little respect for the general run 
of people in those countries ; no more respect 
than their own rulers have, and that is very 
little. Some exception must be made in the case 
of Canada, which is inhabited, so far as the whites 
are concerned, mainly by intelligent people. But 
Mexico, according to its own statesmen and ac- 
cording to all travellers who have been in it, is 
practically a semi-civilized country. The most 
of the inhabitants are deplorably ignorant. Free- 
dom of ballot is an utter farce. Law is a matter 
of barter, and life and property, while nominally 
secure, are frequently threatened by uprisings 
which no local government has yet been able to 
promptly suppress, and which certainly could 
not be suppressed by a central government three 
thousand miles away with an army of the con- 
ventional size of that of the United States. 

Cuba is worse than Mexico rather than better. 
Cuba has been in a condition of discontent and 
disturbance for so long that there are but few 
portions of the island on which life and property 
are safe. The majority of the voters can be pur- 
chased at any election time for a very small out- 
lay of money or rum, and the same purchased 
voters could be persuaded by similar means to 



378 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OK THEE." 

rise within a week against tlie newly elected 
authorities, even if all happened to be their own 
candidates for office. The class of representa- 
tives which Cuba would be obliged to send to 
Washington could not possibly be expected to 
have any interest in national legislation except 
such as pertained to their own portion of the 
land. They have no sympathies of any sort with 
any portion of the people or industries or aspira- 
tions of the United States. It would be unfair to 
expect it of them. By birth and tradition they 
are radically different from us. Their isolation 
from us would be none the less even were they 
part of our country, and the consequence would 
be an alien class, demanding everything and 
yielding nothing, exactly what would be the case 
were we to annex Mexico. 

Canada may drift to us in time. Some states- 
men on both sides of the line regard this as in- 
evitable. Well, what must be will be. But be- 
fore any such marriage of nations there ought to 
be a long courtship between the parties. At 
present there is no love whatever between them, 
and until there is a marked change in this respect 
the union would be too utterly selfish on each 
side to be safe for either. We want some things 
from Canada, it is true. We have used up most 
of our visible supply of standing timber, and we 
could find enough in Canada for a century to 
come to make up for all deficiencies. But what 



ANNEXATION. 379 

else would we get? Very little. We assume 
that Canada will buy a great deal from us. But 
it does not seem to occur to the majority of our 
people that Canada is not a large purchasing 
country. Canada has not only no rich class, as 
we regard the expression, but her well-to-do class 
is poor, and the majority of her people are not 
only very poor, but have very few needs and de- 
mands to be supplied even had they unlimited 
means. The French Canadians, who are probably 
the most industrious of the population, live more 
plainly than any American would believe until 
he had travelled in the country largely. They 
are so poor that they regard themselves in para- 
dise financially when they can find occupation 
upon American fishing vessels and in American 
factories. The pay of factory hands in the East- 
ern States is very small, as the trades' unions 
have informed us frequently and without any 
exaggeration, but it is infinitely better than any- 
thing that the young men and young women of 
Lower Canada could find at home. The home 
of the French Canadian, who seems to be entirely 
contented, contains so little furniture that to the 
poor mechanic of a Northern city it would seem 
very bare and empty. The farming population 
of English birth is better off, lives better and has 
broader and more expensive tastes. But it is one 
thing to have tastes and quite a different thing 
to have the means to gratify them. The means 



380 ■ " MY COUNTRY, 'TIvS OF THKE." 

would not be any greater if those people were 
citizens of the United States than they are now. 

One thing we would receive in bountiful meas- 
ure from Canada were we to annex her, and that 
is debt. She is loaded with debt in proportion 
to the assessed value of everything within her 
borders about five times as heavily as the United 
States, and let no one imagine that the Canadian 
is going to be fool enough to become part of our 
country and pay a proportion of our debts with- 
out having her own debts paid by us. The 
Canadian debt and ours would have to be amal- 
gamated, with the result that each individual 
taxpayer of the United States would have to 
take a share in paying, literally paying, for 
Canada. 

I know that a great deal is said about the vex- 
atious questions that would be entirely disposed 
of were Canada to become part of this Union. 
But would we really get rid of them ? All of the 
territory to the north of us is not strictly Cana- 
dian. Some of it still belongs to England, and 
even if England were quite willing to be entirely 
rid of the Dominion, she would keep a foothold 
here if only for the purpose of having a source 
of food supply from the fisheries. Nearly two 
hundred years ago, when the British islands were 
nowhere near as populous as at present, and the 
sea yielded a bountiful harvest all along the 
British coast, England fought France savagely 



ANNEXATION. 381 

( 

on the fisheries question, and America so fully 
sympathized with her as to assist her to the best 
of her ability. So, as long as England is any- 
where on our border, it would be useless to im- 
agine ourselves rid of her as a possible enemy. 
She could concentrate troops and munitions of 
war quite as easily upon any large island or point 
of the upper half of North America as she can in 
Canada. She might not be quite so near our 
border or have so many opportunities for crossing, 
but she would be far enough away for us not to 
be able to watch her so closely. 

The only purposes of annexation, now that 
men are no longer stolen and killed for the nomi- 
nal reason that we wish to make Christians of 
them, are to get something worth having for its 
own sake or to find a place of overflow for surplus 
population. None of our neighbors are rich ex- 
cept in debt. They have nothing we want which 
we cannot get cheaper by purchase than at the 
expense of time, money and patience that even 
peaceable annexation would require. 

As for receptacles of overflow, we already have 
enough to last us a century or two. Do not take 
any stock in the story that there is no more gov- 
ernment land worth having, and that there are 
no more chances for the poor man in the United 
States. I know that such stories are told fre- 
quently by those who are supposed to know most 
about it. The younger men of the farming com- 



382 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

munities of the West, some thousands of them, 
have been howling for years to be allowed to 
enter the so-called territory of Oklahoma. But 
if to each of the majority of these men were given 
a quarter section of land in the Garden of Para- 
dise as it existed before the fall of Adam, they 
would still be looking out for some new location. 
There is a great floating, discontented mass of 
people in the new countries. The proportion is 
quite as great as it is in the large cities. There 
are many farmers in the West who have occupied 
half a dozen different homesteads on pre-emption 
claims in succession, turned up a little ground, 
built some sort of house which never was iinished, 
become discouraged or disheartened or restless, 
sold out at a loss or abandoned their claims, put 
their portable property in a wagon or boat and 
started in search of some new country. Their 
impulse seems to be exactly that of the small 
boy who is out fishing. He always seems to 
think the fish will bite better a little further on, 
either up or down the stream, it does not matter 
which, and he rambles from one to the other be- 
cause rambling is a great deal easier work than 
fishing. The unsurveyed territory of the United 
States is still enormous. Between the city of 
New York and the Ohio river there are still hun- 
dreds of thousands of acres of good land which 
never echoed the sound of the lumberman's axe 
nor heard the ploughman's whistle or oath. 



ANNEXATION. 383 

Several years ago the president of a prominent 
railway corporation, a tnmk line, said to me that 
tliere were hundreds of miles of his company's 
land which never contributed in any way to the 
support of the road. It produced nothing, and 
scarcely anything was carried over the road to it. 
And he wanted to know if I could give him any 
possible reason why immigrants by hundreds 
went over the line to points a thousand miles 
away when so much good land was awaiting till- 
age, and was several hundred miles nearer mar- 
kets than the country to which they were going. 
I could not, except to suggest that it was human 
nature to imagine that the places which were fur- 
therest away offered the greatest advantages. 

Why, even in the State of New York, with its 
five or six million inhabitants, there are large 
counties, and not in the Adirondack region either, 
of which not more than half the good land is 
under cultivation to-day. The land is not bad, the 
distance from rail communication and from mar- 
kets is not great. Everything is more favorable 
to the settler than in some portions of the West- 
ern States that are filling up rapidly, and yet the 
immigrant passes all these localities and goes 
further away, and he who already is there is 
often dissatisfied and anxious to sell out and go 
somewhere apparently for no other purpose ex- 
cept to get a new start. The hill countries of 
all the older States still contain immense quanti- 



384 *' MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

ties of valuable ground wliicli might be made to 
yield more profitable crops per acre thatf any- 
body's wheat-land in the most favored sections 
of the United States. The ground that the State 
of Tennessee some years ago placed upon the 
market at six cents an acre so as to have it in 
personal instead of public possession, and with 
the hope of getting a little something out of it in 
the way of taxes, is as good as many of the more 
valuable portions of the Eastern States. The 
entire table-land of the mountain range that sepa- 
rates the Eastern States from the West is but 
sparsely inhabited. Not much of it can be util- 
ized for large planting of staple crops, but all 
of it is valuable for something that might be 
turned to profit. It is better ground than the 
Switzers live well on in their native country and 
far better naturally than that of some of the 
more prosperous provinces of France. On the 
basis of the population of the State of New York, 
which State certainly is not overcrowded in 
its agricultural districts, this nation has room 
for all people who will be bom in it or who by 
any possibility can immigrate to it for two or 
three centuries to come. 

We need no place of overflow for any of our 
population that is not criminal, and this class can 
be trusted to find its own outlets and places of 
refuge without any assistance from the govern- 
ment or the people. 



CHAPTER XV. 

THE INDIAN. 

It was not very long ago that the Indian wa^ 
the object of a great deal of discussion and alarm 
in the United States. 

He had a habit of breaking out at unexpected 
times and in unexpected places. He might be 
quiet in winter when the snow was deep and the 
reservation warehouse was so full of stores there 
was no possibility of his getting hungry, and 
consequently angry. When, however, the spring 
sun melted away the snow and brought the grass 
to the surface, so that it was cheaper to let a pony 
fatten on the grass than to kill him while he was 
lean, the Indian picked up his spirits and rifle — 
which always was a good one — and started on the 
warpath. He did not particularly care whom he 
might kill ; but if there were no other Indian 
tribes about, he was not going home without a 
scalp, even if he had to kill a white man. The 
development of some of our Territories was ar- 
rested for months, and even years, by some In- 
dian wars which began upon very slight pretext, 
and which our army, contemptible in numbers, 

25 385 



386 " MY COUNTRY, 'tis OP THEE." 

was unable to suppress promptly; and the 
savages gained confidence from the knowledge, 
which they were not compelled to ignore, that 
we were not a fighting nation. 

Either through better soldiers or less dis- 
honest agents, there has been a change in late 
years. The Indian has not been on the warpath 
in a long time, and some of the exciting accounts 
of Indian raids in the West amount only to this — 
that a body of men have left their reservation 
against the advice of their associates, and started 
on a stealing and murdering tour just far enough 
ahead of the military force to be able to do a 
great deal of harm in a short time. 

At the same time, however, the idea has been 
creeping to the surface that the Indian might 
possibly be regarded as a human being and as 
amenable to the ordinary laws and customs of 
civilization. 

All of us have heard the old brutal remark, 
attributed to General Sheridan and several other 
army officers, that the only good Indian is a 
dead one. But this is a base and cruel slander. 
There are a great many good Indians, and every 
honest Indian agent as well as every military 
officer who has much to do with the savage tribos 
knows that in each reservation there are a num- 
ber of men, rude though they may be, who are 
of considerable character and large self-control, 
and whose principal faults may be charged to 



THE INDIAN. 



387 



the negligence of the government, which has 
regarded the red man as its special ward. 

The Indian has brains. No one is quicker to 
admit this than the army officer who has had 
occasion to fight the Indian. General Custer 
was a good soldier and an experienced Indian 
fighter, but Chief Gall was a better one. The 
defeat of Custer is usually attributed to Sitting 
Bull, but that old ruffian simply did out-and- 
out fighting ; the brains of the conflict — all the 
strategy and all the tactics — ^were supplied by an 
Indian named Gall, who still lives, and for whose 
military ability every officer in our army has a 
profound respect, not unmixed with fear. 

The flowery and elaborate speeches which dif- 
ferent representatives of savage tribes have made 
to the Great Father at Washington, through 
their interpreters, may seem to have a good deal 
of nonsense in them, but the Indian Bureau 
knows that they also contain a great deal of ad- 
mirable diplomacy. It may be because the In- 
dian has very little to think of and can give his 
whole mind to the subject under consideration; 
but whatever the reason, the fact is assured that 
in pow-wows between representatives of our In- 
dian Bureau and some of the tribes in the Far 
West the preponderance of brains has not always 
been on the side of the white man. 

Another unexpected development of the In- 
dian question is, that the Indian will worL 



388 *'my country, 'tis of thee." 

This may seem a wild statement in view of what 
a number of travellers and military' officers have 
seen on reservations in the Far West and at 
railway stations on the slender line which con- 
nects the civilization of the West with that of 
the Rocky mountains and the Pacific slope. But 
fortunately there are a number of witnesses to 
substantiate it ; for instance, the Apaches are 
currently supposed to be the most irreclaimable 
tribe of wild men within our nation's borders. 
It will not be hard to recall the difficulties 
which General Crook experienced in following, 
defeating and recalling Geronimo's famous gang 
of Apaches a few years ago, when they were 
followed to a mountain fastness in Mexico. Yet 
when some of the demons who had murdered, 
ravished and burned everything in their path 
were finally brought back to the reservation and 
taiight that by tilling the soil they could earn 
some money, or at least the equivalent of 
money, they worked harder than any American 
farmer whose achievements had ever been re- 
corded. These so-called lazy devils supplied a 
military post with hundreds of tons of hay, 
every particle of which was cut by hand with 
such knives as the savages happened to have: 
they had no other tools with which to work. 
They also supplied the post with vegetables of 
various kinds, beside keeping themselves well 
fed with products of the soil which were results 



THE INDIAN. 389 

of tlieift- own labor. Farms managed by Indians 
are not at all uncommon in tHe West. It \vas 
the eviction, or the fear of eviction of an old 
Indian woman from her farm, that led to the 
murder" of Indian Agent Meeker in Colorado. 
An Indian named Ouray was for a long time 
one of the most successful and respected farmers 
in Colorado. Ouray not only managed his own 
business well, but kept in order all the Indians 
in his vicinity. His methods were somewhat 
rude to be sure, but they always were effective, 
and no army ofiicer of his acquaintance hesitated 
to trust him as implicitly as he would trust the 
Secretary of War for the time being. An In- 
dian at present is one of the land barons of the 
West, and has held his little estate near the 
centre of a large and flourishing town in spite 
of all temptations and machinations of rum- 
sellers, traders, lawyers and other scoundrels 
that have endeavored to swindle him out of his 
own. 

But it isn't necessary to go West to find out 
whether the Indian will work. One needs only 
to go down to Hampton, Virginia, where the 
government is supporting a lot of young Indians 
in the Normal school conducted b}^ General 
Armstrong. I had heard so much about the 
unwonted spectacle of Indians, clothed and in 
their right minds, with clean faces and hands, 
studying books and using tools and behaving 



390 " MY COUNTRY, 'tis OF THEE." 

themselves like human beings — that a little 
while ago I went down to Hampton myself 
and went through the schools. First, I asked 
General Armstrong whether the Indian would 
work. 

"Will he work?" said the General, with a 
merry twinkle of his eye. "Well now, you roam 
about here yourself all day ; I presume you 
know a red man from a black one when you see 
him ; and you will have the question answered 
to your entire satisfaction." 

I did, and was convinced. I saw Indians out- 
of-doors working the soil, and Indians indoors, in 
the shops, handling tools as skilfully as the 
average white man. I saw houses inhabited by 
picked Indian families — young people with chil- 
dren, and the " housekeeping " — one of the most 
comprehensive words in the world — was so 
thorough in all visible respects that either 
family seemed fit to teach domestic economy and 
neatness in many Northern villages I have seen. 
I saw four Indians in a class-room, at four sepa- 
rate blackboards, draw, inside of three minutes 
by the clock, four quite accurate maps of North 
America, putting the principal lakes and rivers 
in their proper places. Several prominent Amer- 
icans (white) were with me at the time, and each 
admitted, for himself, that he could not have 
done as well to save his life ; yet one was one of 
those railroad monopolists who want to own the 



THE INDIAN. 391 

earth, and' are supposed to carry at least their 
own section of it in their mind's eye. 

From General Armstrong himself I got the 
following brief statement of the Indian situation, 
and I have been unable to find any one in author- 
ity who is able to contradict any part of it. 

" There are now in this country (exclusive of 
the Alaskans) some 246,000 Indians, of whom 
64,000 belong to the so-called civilized tribes, the 
Choctaws, Cherokees, Creeks and Chickasaws. 
These, including their 16,000 ex-slaves, a rapidly 
increasing negro element, live, in the main, like 
white men. They, however, pay no taxes, receiv- 
ing ample revenues from their interest in the sales 
of land to the government, but, while they have 
schools and churches and an organized govern- 
ment of their own, are held back by their adhe- 
rence to the old tribal idea. This is thoroughly 
anti-progressive, and the savage Indian of to- 
day, who, taking his land in severalty, comes 
under the same law as his white neighbor, will 
probably in twenty years be well in advance of 
his Indian Territory brother, who, under exist- 
ing conditions, can be neither one thing nor the 
other, 

" The principal uncivilized tribes are the 20,000 
Navajos in the Southwest, and the 30,000 Sioux 
in the Northwest. The first of these have 
nearly doubled -in ten years, own 1,000,000 sheep 
and 40,000 ponies, are wholly independent and 



392 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE.'\ 

self-supporting, but wild and nomadic ; while the 
Sioux, who are but just holding their own, are 
still victims to the ration system. In spite, 
however, of this demoralizing influence, they 
have improved remarkably of late, chiefly be- 
cause they have been fortunate in their agents. 
It is upon the agents that everything depends, 
and those in charge of the Sioux have gradually 
decreased the food supply, thus forcing self- 
support and inducing the younger men to scatter 
along the river bottoms where there is wood and 
water, instead of huddling in hopeless depend- 
ence about the agencies. Along the banks of 
the Upper Missouri and its tributaries, and on 
the Rose-bud and Pine Ridge Agencies, the 
Sioux have generally broken from the hea- 
thenish village life and taken farms up of from 
one to thirty acres. As I drove last fall down the 
west bank of the Missouri river I saw hundreds 
of these farms, with their wire fences, log huts 
with the supplementary ti-pi, stacks of grain 
and hay, and everywhere men working in the 
fields, nineteen out of twenty in citizen's cloth- 
ing. As a better class of white settlers comes 
in, a better feeling comes with them, and the 
Indian can get in no other way such education 
as he receives from contact with these people. 

"The best of these Sioux, 3,500 of whom are 
now self-supporting, illustrate what we mean by 
' progressive Indians,' and what has been done 



THE INDIAN. 393 

for them can be done for all Indians. It is only 
a question of time and work. Between the 
Sierra Nevada and the Rocky Mountain Ranges, 
and in Montana, there are many thousand 
Indians whose condition is not encouraging, 
chiefly for lack of adequate effort in their behalf; 
while on the other hand, there are many on the 
Pacific coast who, under the influence of good 
agents and good conditions, are doing well. 
On farming lands Indians improve much faster 
than in a grazing country. 

" Government paid last year $1,050,000 for beef 
for reservation Indians, and $1,200,000 for their 
education, and only twelve thousand children 
are at school out of the total of forty thousand 
who are of an age to receive education. More 
education and less beef is the need. 

"An experience of eleven years with Indian 
students at Hampton, together with careful study 
of reservation life, has convinced me that In- 
dians are alive to progressive influences. They 
are intelligent and clear thinkers, quick at 
technical work in trades shops, unused to steady 
application but willing to take hold. They do 
not learn English easily, and are shy of speak- 
ing it, while they have no appreciation of the 
value of time, and cannot endure prolonged 
effort ; this last being a result of their lack of 
phj^sical vigor, which I believe to be their chief 
disadvantage. In my dealings with them I have 



394 " MY COUNTRY, 'tis of thek." 

treated tliem as men and have found tliem 
manly, frank, resentful, but not revengeful ; 
with a keen sense of justice, ready to take pun- 
ishment for wrong doing, and to speak the truth 
to their own hurt. 

"Of 247 sent home from the Hampton school, 
three-fourths have done from fairly to very well. 
At least one-third are doing excellently. There 
must always be a certain percentage of poor 
material, and there is a curious fickleness in the 
average Indian; but our students are always 
surprising us by doing better than we expect, 
and this is especially the case with the girls, for 
whom often we hardly dare to hope. Over one- 
half of our returned Indians have had temporary 
relapses, but there are few who do not recover 
themselves. A majority are working for their 
living as teachers, mechanics, farmers, teamsters, 
clerks, etc. 

"The need of the Indian is good agents, 
teachers, and farm instructors. They are born 
stock-raisers and their lands are the best cattle 
ranges in the country. With the right men in 
charge they could in ten years raise such a pro- 
portion of their own beef as to reduce the beef 
issue by one-half 

"In their way stands a short-sighted economy, 
and a service so organized that it changes with 
every change of party. The lines of work for 
the Indian are indicated with sufficient clearness ; 



THE INDIAN. 395 

the one thing now essential is intelligent co- 
operation of his friends. 

"The saying that ' there is no good Indian but 
a dead one' is a cruel falsehood and has done 
great harm. They are a good deal like other 
people, and with a fair chance do well." 

That the Indian will work and that he also 
will learn was first demonstrated — officially — by 
Captain Pratt, of the regular army, who noM^ is 
busily engaged in solving individual Indian 
problems at his noble school at Carlisle, Pa. 
The change in the government's policy toward 
the redskins is attributed, with good reason, to 
Captain Pratt's endeavors. Says Senator Dawes, 
who labored so hard for the bill enabling Indians 
to take farms instead of living in barbarous com- 
munism on reservations : 

" The division line between the present policy 
and the past is drawn here ; in the past the gov- 
ernment tried, by fair means or foul, to rid itself 
of the Indian. The present policy is to make 
something of him. That policy had its origin 
almost in an accident. Eight or nine years ago 
the government sent Captain Pratt with warriors, 
covered with the blood of a merciless war, from 
the Indian Territor}^ down to Florida ; and Cap- 
tain Pratt, in the discharge of his duty, under- 
took to relieve himself of the labor of keeping 
these warriors in idleness, no matter if the work 
was of no service to anybod}^ if it M'ould keep 



396 " MY COUNTRY, 'TLS OF THEE." 

them out of idleness. With this end in view he 
got permission to let them pick stones out of the 
streets. Then he enlisted ladies to teach them 
to read. Out of that experiment of Captain 
Pratt's has come all the rest. Behold what a 
great fire a little matter has kindled ! " 

Senator Dawes further says the following per- 
tinent words on the Indian question ; no Ameri- 
can can fail to realize the force of his remarks : 

"If St. Paul was here and had 250,000 In- 
dians on his hands, whom the United States had 
sought for one hundred years to rob of every 
means of obtaining a livelihood, and had helped 
bring up in ignorance, he never would have said 
to them, ' He that will not work, shall not eat.' 
You did not say that to the poor black man ; 
you did not say that to the little children whom 
you sent by contribution out into the country for 
fresh air, and you ought not to say it to this 
poor, helpless race, helpless in their ignorance, 
and ignorant because we have fostered their ig- 
norance. We have appropriated more money to 
keep them in absolute darkness, and heathenism, 
and idleness, than would have been required to 
send every one of them to college, and now we 
propose to turn them out. We did not relieve 
ourselves of the responsibility by that indiffer- 
ence ; we have got to take them by the hand like 
little children and bring them up out of this 
ignorance, for they multiply upon our hands, 



THE INDIAN. 397 

and their heritage is being wrenched away from 
them, and good men as well as bad are devising 
means to take it away. 

"What is to become of them then? Have 
we done our duty to this people when we have 
said to them : ' We will scatter you and let you 
become isolated and vagabonds on the earth, and 
then we will apply to you the philosophic com- 
mand, " Go, take care of yourselves ; we have 
every dollar of your possessions, every acre of 
your heritage ; we have killed more of your fel- 
lows than there are of you left ; we have burnt 
your little homes, and now we have arrived at 
the conclusion that it is time to take away from 
you the last foot of ground upon which you can 
rest, and we shall have done our duty when we 
command you to take care of yourselves ? " ' 
That is not the way I read it ; I know how sin- 
cere and honest, and probably as near right 
everybody else is, but I am only telling how I 
feel. I feel just this : that every dollar of money, 
and every hour of effort that can be applied to 
each individual Indian, day and night, in season 
and out of season, with patience and persever- 
ance, with kindness and with charity, is not 
only due him in atonement for what we have 
inflicted upon him in the past, but is our own 
obligation towards him in order that we may not 
have him a vagabond and a pauper, without 
home or occupation among us in this land. 



398 *'my country, 'tis of thee.' 

One or tlie other is the alternative ; he is to be 
a vagabond about our streets, begging from door 
to door, and plundering our citizens, or he is to 
be taken up and made .a man among us ; a citi- 
zen of this great republic, absorbed into the body 
politic and made a useful and influential citizen." 

President Cleveland voiced the opinion of all 
thoughtful and intelligent citizens when he wrote 
that " the conscience of the people demands that 
the Indians within our boundaries be fairly and 
honestly treated as wards of the government, 
and their education and civilization promoted 
with view to ultijnate citizenships 

With a chance to work, the Indian needs also 
the chance to learn, and this he is getting more 
and more. Whether he will learn is a question 
no longer open to doubt. General Armstrong's 
testimony is given above. Captain Pratt saj^s 
" scarcely a student but is able to take care of 
himself or herself among civilized people at the 
end of their five years' course." Bishop Hare, 
of the Episcopal Church, who has been doing 
splendid work among the Indians for many 
years, gives unwearying attention to schools on 
the reservations, but says, "I cannot shut my eyes 
to the incalculable service which well-conducted 
Eastern boarding-schools have done the Indians." 

When we shall have for a few years treated 
the Indian like a human being, there will be no 
*' Indian question " to discuss. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

THE PRESS. 

The editor is the great American scliool- 
master. None other is worthy to be compared 
with him. 

He is about as numerous as all other teachers 
combined. His lessons are given more fre- 
quently, they last longer and they cost less than 
any others. 

To him forty-nine students in every fifty are in- 
debted for the only post-graduate course they ever 
receive. Many others would have no education 
at all if it were not for him. 

He does not always know his business so well 
that he could not know it better, but whatever he 
does know he imparts steadily, as well as some 
that he does not honor. 

He is the only influence upon whom the pub- 
lic can absolutely depend to right any wrong 
which is being endured in spite of the efforts and 
oaths of legislators. When law is lazy and legis- 
lators are venal it is the editor, and the editor only, 
who comes to the relief of the public. The pub- 
lic will not do this for itself It seems to con- 

399 



400 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

sider its duty done wlien it casts its ballot. More 
than half a century ago, when editors were not 
supposed to think their souls their own, the first 
Napoleon said, " Four hostile newspapers are 
more to be feared than a thousand bayonets." 
Napoleon certainly knew the value of bayonets. 

The newspaper is the universal tribunal. It 
is an open court and there is justice of a sort for 
every one there at a trifling cost, one cent, two 
or three, as the case may be. The editor is the 
lawyer to whom the poor man must of necessity 
come. His court is one of equity, and it is to 
equity courts after all that all of us are inclined 
to resort when we insist upon a final decision. 

He is the people's advocate. Before a law can 
be suggested in legislature or Congress to undo 
a wrong or strengthen a right, the editor has al- 
ready suggested it, debated both sides of it and 
rendered a decision, frequently a dozen or twenty 
decisions, which the public are inclined to admit 
or regard as accurate. He sometimes gets hold 
of a subject wrong end first, but he will submit to 
correction and improvement quicker than any 
judge or jury on record. He may not always 
admit that he has changed his mind, or that he 
turned over, or that he has turned his coat, but 
the change is there all the same, to any one who 
will read his paper. 

He is the only biographer and historian which 
the mass of the people can read. And he gives 



THE PRESS. 401 

more information for a given amount of money 
than tlie cheapest circulating library in the world. 

The editor is also invaluable as a social 
barometer. As Thackeray once said, " The 
newspaper is typical of the community in which 
it is encouraged and circulated ; it tells its char- 
acter as well as its condition." This is awfully 
severe upon some communities, and upon the 
readers of certain papers, but it is none the less 
true. 

Unselfish thinkers, who are concerned chiefly 
for the good of the community, are always the 
men who esteem the editor most highly. Wen- 
dell Phillips, who for more than thirty years was 
abused by about half the editors of the land, 
said, " Let me make the newspapers, and I care 
npt what is preached in the pulpit or what is 
enacted in Congress." Many years before, 
Thomas Jefferson, one of the founders of our 
government, said, " Were it left to me to decide 
whether we should have a government without 
newspapers, or newspapers without a government, 
I should prefer the latter." 

The editor has improved mofe rapidly in the 
past twenty-five years than the representative of 
any other profession. Theologians, physicians 
and lawyers all belong to schools of one sort or 
other, but of late years there has come up a 
new school of journalism which is called inde- 
pendent, and it has become so popular with 



402 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OP THEK." 

readers of newspapers tliat the number of pro- 
fessors and students in it are increasing at a most 
gratifying rate. 

James Gordon Bennett, Jr., explains one dif- 
ference clearly wHen lie says : " There is one 
grand distinction between journals — some are 
newspapers, some are organs. An organ is sim- 
ply a daily pamphlet published in the interest of 
some party, or persons, or some agitation." But 
the organs are not as numerous as they used to 
be. 

Who would have imagined any time before the 
late civil war that in any great political campaign 
preceding a general election in this country there 
would be scores and almost hundreds of indepen- 
dent newspapers. The time was when a news- 
paper could not exist unless it were a party or 
personal organ. But the newspaper" has gradu- 
ally risen from being a mere partisan or personal 
mouthpiece to being the mouthpiece of its own 
proprietor. At the present day no properly 
qualified journalist need attach himself to either 
party for financial reasons. If he is competent 
to make a good newspaper he is quite free to ex- 
press his own opinions regardless of whom he 
may help or hurt, and the position is so delightful 
that a great many editors rush into it apparently 
for the mere pleasure of expressing their own 
opinions. During the last general election the 
scarcity of strong party organs, even in the larg- 



THE PRESS. 403 

est cities where they were supposed most to be 
needed, was a matter of general comment among 
practical politicians, and it is known that some 
newspapers changed hands solely for the purpose 
of being turned into party organs and that it was 
frequently so difficult to obtain control of existing 
journals that new ones had to be started for the 
sole purpose of supplying their respective parties 
with mouthpieces. This may be considered a 
compliment to the personal interest of the average 
journalist or to his personal ability. But, which- 
ever it is, it is highly creditable to the profession, 
and it is a result which could not have been 
hoped for twenty-five years ago. 

Now-a-days every journalist of actual ability, 
no matter which party he belongs to, wishes that 
he may become owner of an independent news- 
paper. It is impossible for him not to see that 
the independent newspaper is not only the most 
quoted and the most talked about, but the most 
profitable. The paper which is read by both 
parties is sure of more subscribers, purchasers 
and advertisers than that which draws all its 
inspiration from the platform formed by a single 
convention. The independent editor hears him- 
self quoted in Congress by men of both parties ; 
and these same men are quite likely to grumble 
and swear within a week to find themselves casti- 
gated by the same men whose words of wisdom 
they recently availed themselves of. 



404 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

The possibilities of the press for good, now 
that independence in journalism is practicable 
and also a business temptation, cannot be over- 
estimated. Public opinion can be created more 
rapidly by daily appeals and arguments which 
the newspaper reader can quietly look over by 
himself, pausing whenever he may like to think 
over what he has read, than anything that can 
appear in campaign speeches or magazine essays 
or books by the most noted writers and special- 
ists. The editor, as a rule, has dropped the old 
stilted form of the essay, and puts his arguments 
in the ordinary colloquial form, with homely 
illustrations and forcible applications so far as 
words go. If it didn't seem like complimenting 
him too highly and making him vain, it would 
not be unfair to say that his method is that in 
which the more valuable portion of the four gos- 
pels was written. He has learned that political 
power is no longer in the hands of the learned 
classes, but that all portions of the community 
feel and read and think ; and that, as every man 
has a vote, the larger the audience he talks to, 
the simpler and clearer must be his arguments. 
Consequently the press is giving us a class of 
debaters such as the world never knew before, 
and such as no parliamentary body in the world 
possesses even now or can hope to possess for 
some time to come. 

With increased freedom from party reins and 



THE PRESS. 405 

ties, the editor is continually increasing and en- 
larging tlie interests to wliicli he addresses him- 
self. There is scarcely a newspaper in the United 
States at the present day which restricts itself 
entirely to political subjects. Anything in the 
nature of human interests, social economies, 
moral reforms, and even the tastes and amuse- 
ments of the people is a fair subject for the 
editor. He is not only a teacher; he is a 
preacher, and he preaches six days in the week 
instead of one. In fact, he frequently extends 
his ministrations into the seventh day also, to 
the great annoyance of preachers who occupy 
more dignified positions, but with not so large a 
congregation. 

The press hereafter must be the principal 
moral, political and social influence of the coun- 
try. There is no way to put it backward. It is 
being more and more trusted — more and more 
read — more and more depended upon to be equal 
to every emergency ; and, to do it justice, it sel- 
dom disappoints expectations — a statement that 
cannot be made with any shadow of truth of any 
class of statesmen, except the very best. Years 
ago Lamartine was laughed at as a dreamer 
when he said, " Newspapers will ultimately en- 
gross all literature ; there will be nothing else 
published but newspapers," but Lamartine's 
prophecy is being rapidly fulfilled. The news- 
paper is invading every department of literature, 



406 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

and giving the reader the best at the lowest 
price. 

There is a great hubbub once in a while in 
courts and among lawyers about what they are 
pleased to style trial by newspaper, and it is 
atonishing that before a court can reach any 
important case, the conduct of the case, its 
merits and its probable conclusion have been so 
well foreshadowed by the press that interest in 
the trial itself is comparatively slight. So gen- 
eral is the resort to newspapers for information 
and opinion, that a short time ago when one of 
the famous boodle aldermen of New York was 
called up for trial, it was impossible, under the 
jury laws of the State, to find even one single 
competent juror in a city the population of 
which was one million and a half Everybody 
had formed opinions, and the opinions generally 
agreed. They had seen the testimony — seen it 
discussed from all sides and all points — discussed 
so clearly, that they had no reasonable doubt 
of the guilt of the accused. And all this they 
saw in the newspapers. 

It begins to look as if the time might come 
when lawyers, courts, jurors, judges, would all 
be supplanted by the editor, and as if soon after- 
ward teachers and preachers also might feel occa- 
sion to shake in their shoes. There is no danger 
in such an event of the editor becoming conceited. 
He always has a regulating principle close at 



THE PRESS. 407 

hand. It is right in the counting-room at the 
book-keeper's desk. The public can change its 
opinion of a newspaper as quickly as it can of a 
political candidate ; and when it does, the editor 
knows of it at once by a class of figures that 
never are allowed to lie. 

Because all this is true — and everybody admits 
that it is — a great many men of more ambition 
than brains are attempting to be full-fledged 
editors at a single bound. " Fools rush in where 
angels fear to tread." Angels, who have un- 
equalled opportunities of knowing the true in- 
wardness of things, would think twice, or oftener, 
before attempting to be editors, without first going 
through a laborious apprenticeship. It seems the 
easiest thing in the world for a man who has a 
lot of money of his own, or, better still, some 
money which belongs to other people, to start a 
newspaper and air his own opinions — which con- 
sist principally of partialities and prejudices — 
but the end is sure to be disastrous. Many 
daily papers have started in our large cities 
and reached a large temporary circulation, which 
afterward disappeared in the mists of oblivion 
and left nothing but debts behind. A successful 
newspaper is the result of natural growth and 
accretion. 

Henry Watterson, editor of the Louisville 
Courier-Journal^ says : " The result of any 
newspaper enterprise depends upon the char- 



408 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

acter of the man who engages in it — his capacity 
to discern correctly and to adapt his paper to the 
wants and needs of the audience it is meant to 
serve." 

Whitelaw Reid, editor of the New York 
Tribime^ and now Minister to France, says : 
" Every great newspaper represents an intel- 
lectual, a moral and a material growth — the ac- 
cretion of successive efforts from year to year — 
until it has become an institution and a power. 
It is the voice of the power that the twenty or 
thirty years of honest dealing with the public 
and just discussion of current questions have 
given." 

Horace Greeley, the founder of Mr. Reid's 
paper, said truthfully that "The office of a 
newspaper is first to give the history of its time, 
and afterward to deduce such theories or truths 
from it as shall be of universal application." 
Can any mere peddler of news and scandals, or 
any man whose sole gratification is a desire to 
see his own impressions in print, live up to this 
standard ? 

Conscience, application and money, as well as 
intellect, is necessary to the successful manage- 
ment of a newspaper. George W. Childs, editor 
of the Philadelphia Ledger^ snatched the sjanpa- 
thies of all decent members of the editorial fra- 
ternity when he said : " Few persons who peruse 
the. morning papers think of the amount of capi- 



THE PRESS. 400 

tal invested, the labor involved, and tlie care and 
anxiety incident to the preparation of the sheet 
which is served so regularly." Charles A. Dana, 
editor of the New York Sun^ says: " The legal 
responsibility of newspapers is a reality, but 
their moral responsibility is greater and more 
important." B. L. Godkin, editor of the New 
York Eveni7ig Post^ says : " News is an impal- 
pable thing — an airy abstraction ; to make it a 
merchantable commodity, somebody has to col- 
lect it, condense it, and clothe it in language, 
and its quality depends upon the character of the 
men employed in doing this." 

George William Curtis, editor of Harper's 
Weekly^ admitting the tremendous influence of 
the press, voices the sentiment of successful 
editors everywhere when he says : " If the news- 
paper is the school of the people, and if upon 
popular education and intelligence the success 
and prosperity of popular government depends, 
there is no function in society which requires 
more conscience as well as ability." 

Evidently newspaper men who amount to any- 
thing realize their responsibilities. The press is 
not " all right," but it seems as far from wrong 
as conscience and common sense can make any 
earthly institution. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

THE SCHOOL-ROOM 

The late lamented Sam Weller once spoke of 
a schoolboy, who, having learned the alphabet, 
wondered whether it was worth going through so 
much to learn so little. The same reflection has 
come to millions of Americans as they thought 
of how much time they had spent in schooling 
and how little they knew when the}^ got out. 

There are parts of our vast country where the 
people are lucky enough to have teachers who 
know so little about the theories of teaching that 
they impart to their pupils more information 
than the law demands. But in the cities and 
large towns where teaching has been elevated, or 
more properly speaking, reduced to a science, 
where the most money is spent on the schools 
and where the school terms are longest, the prev- 
alence of " how not to do it " is simply ap- 
palling. 

The country boy who goes to school only four 
or five months in the year knows quite as much 
as his city cousin who annually has nine or ten 
months of schooling. What does the city pupil 

410 



THE SCHOOL-ROOM. 411 

get for tlie double outlay of time, bad air, back- 
aclie and discipline ? 

As lie cannot make any subsequent use of bis 
accumulation of bad air and back-acbe, his entire 
gain over tbe country boy would seem to be in 
discipline. What does this discipline do for him 
in the adult life for which school life is a prepa- 
ration ? 

Does it make him a better business man ? No. 
If it does, why is it that the majority of business 
men in our large cities are from the rural dis- 
tricts ? A few months ago I happened to be a 
guest at a dinner party at which more than a 
dozen men prominent in New York business and 
professional life came together. A question 
being asked about a social custom of thirty years 
before, it gradually transpired that not one of the 
party had been born or brought up in the city of 
New York, a city of which all now were perma- 
nent citizens. 

I have told this story to prominent citizens of 
Chicago, St. Louis and Cincinnati, and in return 
received long lists of the great men of those 
cities who came from the country. With some 
fear and trembling I tried the same story in Bos- 
ton at a large public dinner, but the man to whom 
I told it — he was a man who seemed to know 
everybody's antecedents — replied that not more 
than one in ten of Boston's Brahmans or live 
business men were bom at the Hub. 



412 ** MY COUNTRY, 'tis OF THEE." 

Congress is fairly a representative body, but if 
you will look at tbe book wbicli gives biographi- 
cal sketches of all the members, you will be as- 
tonished to find how few cities and large towns 
are represented by men born in them. Nearly 
all the members were born and brought up in 
the country. Occasionally you will find that 
some representative or senator was born in Phila- 
delphia or New York, but if 3^ou look at the head 
of the page you will discover that he is represent- 
ing a rural district of some State other than 
his own. 

You will find it the same way in the learned 
professions. In law, medicine and theology, art, 
literature and science, the men who are most 
prominent at all the great centres of education 
and intelligence date back to some farmhouse and 
country school. Most of these men went to 
college in the course of time, but whenever you 
find one of them and talk with him so long that 
he feels inclined to unbosom himself to you, you 
discover that the amount of schooling he had 
at his birthplace was very small. As most of 
these men have passed the period of their boy- 
hood by at least a quarter of a century, it is not 
surprising to hear them tell of school years con- 
sisting of only three or four months, and of school- 
room exercises where the number of text-books 
were so few that many of the lessons were de- 



the: school-room. 



413 



livered orally by the teacher, and boys and girls 
took turns with one another's books. 

If discipline, school discipline, counts for any- 
thing, these professions should be full of city- 
bred men. But they are not, except at the bot- 
tom — way down at the bottom. City schools 
graduate an immense number of young men who 
enter seminaries and especially departments of 
colleges, to gain a special education, but somehow 
these are not the men who are prominent in the 
new blood of their respective professions. 

If discipline, so called, does not make the city- 
schooled youth superior to his country cousin, 
what is it good for ? Well, it is good to keep 
the school-room in order. The larger the school 
the more necessary it is for a teacher to maintain 
order. In a building containing two or three 
thousand children, as many school-buildings in 
the larger cities ^do, rigid discipline is absolutely 
necessary to this end. But, to come back to 
original facts, why does it take seven or eight 
years to impart a common, a very common, 
school course which any bright boy or girl of 
fifteen years could master alone and unaided in a 
quarter of the time ? 

School systems, where there are any, seem 
designed for the special purpose of making the 
school a machine which should do credit to the 
individuals who run it. This would be excus- 
able with an actual machine made of wood and 



414 *' I\IV COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

metal, but children are not tougli enougli to be 
put to such use. Besides, there is better use for 
them. It is not odd that teachers should look 
out for themselves and for their own records in 
the management of schools. If they don't look 
out for Number One the}^ will be an exception to 
all the rest of humanity. Nevertheless, com- 
pared with the children, the teachers' number 
one as about one to fifty, and their importance 
should be judged from this standpoint of com- 
parison. 

School systems of study seem based on the 
capacity of the stupidest pupils. All the others 
must crawl because the stupid ones cannot 
walk. 

This isn't right. If armies were trained in 
that way we never would have any soldiers. 
Let schools, like regiments, have their awkward 
squads to be specially trained, so that they may 
catch up with those who are proficient. 

What are the branches in which the common 
schools give elementary instructions ? Spelling, 
reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, and 
grammar. The farther from the large city, the 
surer the student is of getting any instruction 
beyond those branches during the first six or 
seven years of a common-school course. He may 
be qualified by home reading to go into the nat- 
ural sciences or into mathematics at an early 
age, but that isn't part of the system. It seldom 



THE SCHOOL-ROOM. 



415 



pleases the teacher of a graded school to be told 
of such acquirements of a new pupil. The 
school exists not to improve the intelligence of 
the pupil from the standpoint at which the 
teacher finds it, but to give him such instruction 
as the teacher is already detailed and instructed 
by law to give. A boy may forget all he knows 
of natural science, or algebra, or geometry, in the 
many years in which he is drilled in elementary 
studies leading up to the branches which he 
already understands. 

In the country districts boys are often fit to 
pass rigid examinations for matriculation at col- 
lege at the age of fifteen years. But the boy 
who does not begin to go to school until he is 
eight years of age finds himself at fifteen, in a 
city, merely fit to enter a high-school, and not a 
very high school either. Some of the most noted 
men in our country's history graduated from 
college at sixteen or seventeen years. The cur- 
riculum of a college in those days was not as 
high as now. Nevertheless, the graduates cer- 
tainly gave a very good account of themselves 
from their earliest entrance into public life. One 
of them was Alexander Hamilton, who graduated 
at seventeen, and who elaborated a system of 
financial management which a whole century of 
successive Secretaries of the Treasury have not 
considered themselves competent to improve 
upon. A very long list of men of similar prom- 



416 *' MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

inence might be given, but such illustrations are 
not necessary. Any intelligent man who has 
been to school knows that a great deal of his 
class-room time has been entirely at his own dis- 
posal, for the lessons were easily memorized ; 
and therefore his hands were idle and Satan 
found something for them to do. The worst 
boys in school can often be found among the 
scholars who stand highest in the classes, and 
for the very natural reason that there is nothing 
to occupy their minds during a large portion of 
the school time. 

Seriously, what is there about the elementary 
branches, as taught in our common schools 
almost anywhere, that should consume such an 
immense amount of time? In the Southern 
States a number of the despised blacks, children 
of slaves who themselves could date back their 
ancestors from generations of slaves, became 
quite proficient in elementary branches during a 
year or two, lounging about military camps in 
the capacity of servants. Special schools were 
founded, as soon as the war ended, by missionary 
societies, which prepared courses of study which 
they considered within the comprehension of the 
Anglo-African mind. Of course there were a 
great many stupid blacks ; but, while some of 
these stupid children were making faces at text- 
books and drawing inartistic pictures on slates, 
their old fathers and mothers were learning from 



'niK SCHOOL-ROOM. 417 

the same children's text-books more rapidly than 
the best children in the public schools of the 
North are allowed to learn. 

Sir John Lubbock complains that "A thousand 
hours in the most precious seed-time of life of 
millions of children spent in learning that i must 
follow e in conceive^ and precede it in believe ; 
that two e^s must, no one knows why, come to- 
gether in proceed and exceed^ and be separated in 
precede and accede ; that uncle must be spelled 
with a <:, but ankle with a k^ — while lessons in 
health and thrift, sewing and cooking, which 
should make the life of the poor tolerable, and 
elementary singing and drawing which should 
make it pleasant, and push out lower and degrad- 
ing amusements, are in many cases almost vainly 
trying to gain admission." 

Take the course all through, and what is 
there about it that should require any great con- 
sumption of time ? Reading certainly is not 
hard to acquire. Children out of school learn it 
in spite of any efforts to hold them back. Spell- 
ing is learned more effectually through reading 
than from any text-book. Writing requires only 
a model of which copies may be made, for there 
is no business man in New York or in any other 
large city who writes a copy-book hand. If he 
did, he would be considered incompetent for what- 
ever position he may occupy. The first thing 
that a boy must learn on leaving school is to un- 



418 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

learn Hs writing-lessons. Arithmetic undoubt- 
edly requires considerable practice to make the 
pupil perfect and quick in computations, but as 
it consists entirely of applications of the first 
four rules, why is it that so much time is spent 
over the text-books and very abstract propositions 
and problems ? Text-books of arithmetic seem 
to be skilfully designed for the purpose of keep- 
ing the child from practical knowledge on the 
subject as long as possible. Examples that are 
called practical are given in many of these books, 
but only after a large amount of figuring, the 
purpose of which the pupil is not allowed to 
clearly understand. A man whose education in 
figures has been obtained on the sidewalk with a 
piece of chalk will cypher more accurately and 
quickly any problem of ordinary nature that may 
be given him than his own son or daughter who 
has been several years in school, because he 
understands the relations and purposes of the 
factors, which never seem to be impressed upon 
the child. 

General F. A. Walker, once superintendent 
of the census and now president of the Boston 
Institute of Technology, says : " The old-fash- 
ioned readiness and correctness of cyphering have 
been to a large degree sacrificed by the methods 
which it is now proposed to reform. A false 
arithmetic has grown up and has largely crowded 



THE SCHOOL-ROOM. 419 

out of place that true arithmetic, which is nothing 
but the art of numbers." 

Geography is so largely a matter of memor}'- 
of the eye that no man who was denied the 
privilege of studying this science while he was at 
school ever thinks it necessary to spend a great 
amount of time over it afterward, even if his 
business requires him to have a practical knowl- 
edge of the subject. It is simply a question of 
sight and of memory, just as is the case with 
knowledge of localities which he may visit either 
to a great or small extent, yet geography in the 
public schools is divided into two, three, and 
sometimes five different books, by the use of 
which the pupil goes again and again over the 
same lessons, obtaining in the end no more in- 
formation than that he would get by a few days' 
deliberate study of an atlas or a set of maps. 

Prof. Geikie, a recognized authority on this 
subject, says : " Every question of geography 
should be one which requires for its answer that 
the children have actually seen something with 
their own eyes and taken note of it." This is 
reasonable ; it would also be practicable if globes 
and large maps were in the class-rooms, but gen- 
erally they are conspicuous only by their absence. 

It is quite true that grammar must occupy 
considerable of the pupils' time. For all the 
persons who have studied it, there seem very 
few of any age at the present time who are able 



420 " I\IY COUNTRY, 'tis OF THEE.'* 

to apply the principles of this science in such a 
manner that they habitually write and speak 
correctly. But this isn't so much the fault of 
the pupil and of the teacher as of the text- 
books from which the science shall be studied. 
Good example, from which adults learn grammar 
more correctly and rapidly than in any other 
way, seems to be considered too good for children, 
so they are given text-books with definitions 
utterly beyond their comprehension — definitions 
so subdivided that there is nothing which the 
intelligent teacher so dreads as a few intelligent 
questions on the subject from a pupil on the 
grammar-lesson of the day. I have seen an in- 
telligent man, himself a college graduate, and a 
public speaker of high reputation and elegant 
style, labor with one of his children over a lesson 
in grammar, and finally give up in despair and 
toss the book across the room. If a man of such 
character is unable to understand a grammatical 
text-book, what can be expected of the child ? 

The greater the scholar or teacher, the greater 
is his contempt for text-books of grammar. Old 
Roger Ascham, tutor to Queen Elizabeth of 
England, delights in saying that his distin- 
guished pupil " never yet tooke Greek or Latin 
Grammer in her hande after the first declininge 
of a Noun and a Verb." A more celebrated 
teacher, John Locke, complained that " Our 
children are forced to stick unreasonably in 



THE SCHOOL-ROOM. 



421 



grammatical flats and shallows." Dr. Park- 
hurst said recently: " The way for a boy to talk 
correctly is to talk subject to correction — not to 
apply himself to linguistic anatomy, surgery 
and dissection. I studied grammar in the ordi- 
nary way about three weeks — just long enough 
to find out what a genius some people can show 
for putting asunder what God hath joined to- 
gether. It is a splendid device for using up a 
boy's time and souring his disposition." 

Well, all this routine is being imposed upon 
the children, and the little wretches are losing 
spirit and impulse through the delay to which 
the cleverer ones are subjected and the lack of 
clearness which causes the stupider ones to 
despair. Nothing whatever is done toward train- 
ing the senses and physical intelligence of the 
child. They do this sort of thing abroad, but 
for some reason Americans are not allowed to 
follow the foreigners' example. Apparently our 
children have a divine call to whatever handi- 
work may fall to their lot thereafter in the world, 
for certainly they get as little training in it as 
the twelve apostles had in theology before they 
were called to preach and teach. The French 
or German, the Swedish child, and even many 
a Russian child, is taught to use his hands 
and his eyes and all his senses that can be 
applied to practical affairs, but the American 
child gets no opportunity of that sort, except in 



422 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

the few schools which conform more or less to 
the kindergarten system. We have a few tech- 
nical schools in large cities, but they are re- 
garded as means to finish a course of education 
instead of part of the ordinary elementary in- 
struction. 

When technical education, which means simply 
the use of the hands and eyes, is spoken of to 
members of Boards of Education and Superinten- 
dents of common school systems in large cities, 
the result is generally an impatient gesture or 
word. There is no room for that sort of thing, 
we are told; beside, it is a mere notion of theor- 
ists. The general run of children are not equal 
to it and would be more troubled than benefited 
by it. 

Well, experience is more valuable than argu- 
ment in answering assertions. A few years ago 
a man who had scarcely ever done any work in 
the school-room brought some theories on the 
subject of technical education over here from 
Germany, although he was an American. He 
went to Philadelphia and started a little class for 
the instruction of teachers. The majority of 
common school teachers sneered at his theories, 
so he proposed to silence all further opposition by 
a practical test. He started a model school for 
the purpose of demonstrating that what he as- 
serted was practicable. He did not select the 
brighter pupils in the public schools, but went 



THE SCHOOL-ROOM. 423 

deliberately into the streets and picked up at ran- 
dom a lot of little gutter-snipes wHo Had never 
been to school at all, or who, if they had, were 
persistent truants ever since. In a short time 
people saw — for it was necessary to have them 
see in order to make them believe at all — these 
ignorant children of the street doing better tech- 
nical work in several directions than could be 
found anywhere else in the city except in estab- 
lishments paying high prices for artistic labor. 
They carved wood, they modelled in clay, 
they made designs on paper, they stamped 
leather and brass and even showed some capacity 
for engraving and coloring in the direction of the 
higher arts. 

The effect of this display should have been to 
have given the system prominence and practical 
demonstration in the public schools, but it 
amounted to little except the gathering of a few 
wide-awake teachers who wished to learn to teach 
as the theorist had been teaching. A few of 
those who took the course went into public 
school work elsewhere and have succeeded 
admirably ever since. In the city of Elizabeth, 
New Jersey, any child who wishes can now re- 
ceive a technical education under the direction of 
the common school authorities. The work be- 
gan in a single school with a single teacher. It 
has since been extended to all the public schools 
of the city, and two teachers work hard from 



424 '' MY COUNTRY, 'tis OF THEE." 

morning until night. A strange development of 
this course of teaching deserves notice. Eliza- 
beth is a city containing a great many large 
manufacturing establishments, and the modest 
young woman who had charge of the technical 
education in the public schools was amazed one 
day to receive a written request from a number 
of master mechanics in different establishments 
for a night school for their own benefit, for which 
they were willing to pay freely ; and some of them 
told the teacher that their attention to the sub- 
ject was first attracted by their own children do- 
ing clearer and more rapid work in the line of 
design than they, these master mechanics, who 
had been in the business all their lives, had ever 
yet succeeded in doing. So for months there 
was visible the astonishing spectacle of a lot of 
middle-aged men being taught their own business 
by a young woman who herself knew nothing 
whatever of their business. 

The helplessness of the average American 
teacher when the subject of technical education 
is mentioned was shown amusingly a few years 
ago when one of the several superintendents who 
have general charge of the New York city schools 
devised a system of teaching from what he called 
object lessons. He prepared a manual and a set 
of charts and the Board of Education in compli- 
ment to him purchased a great many and placed 
them in the class-rooms. But it was almost im- 



THE SCHOOL-ROOM. 425 

possible to have tliem used unless the superin- 
tendent himself took the work in hand. The 
teachers didn't understand it. They said they 
couldn't get the hang of it. The truth was they 
had never had any education of the same kind 
themselves and the matter was as foreign to their 
intelligence as Hebrew or Sanscrit would have 
been. But, mark the difference ; when news of 
this system penetrated the wilds of the rowdy 
West, demands and orders for the material to 
work with came Hast rapidly, and I was told that 
a siugle State in the new West made more use of 
this system than all the Eastern and Middle 
States combined. The West knows what it 
wants ; the teachers are closer to the children 
than in the Hast. This may be one of the bless- 
ings, or perhaps penalties, of life in a new 
country, but, whatever it may be, the results 
seem to justify a wish that all of us could be 
transplanted to a new country, for at least a little 
while, from the older centres of our American 
civilization. 

General Walker, president of the Massachu- 
setts Institute of Technology, says : " The intro- 
duction of shopwork into the public S3''stem of 
education cannot fail to have a most beneficial 
influence in promoting a respect for labor and in 
overcoming the false and pernicious passion of 
our young people for crowding themselves into 
overdone and underpaid departments where they 



42G *' MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THB:K." 

may escape manual exertion." Col. Auclimuty, 
tHe philanthropic founder of New York's great 
*' Trades School," says : " What scientific schools 
are to the engineer and architect — what the law 
school and the medical school are to the lawyer 
and the physician, or what the business college 
is to the clerk — trade schools must be to the 
future mechanics." President Butler, late of 
Columbia College's faculty, now president of the 
Industrial Association's great model school, says : 
" Manual training does not claim admittance as 
a favor ; it demands it as a right. The future 
course of study will not be a Procrustean struc- 
ture — absolutely and unqualifiedly alike for all 
localities and for all schools ; but it will have in 
it a principle, and that principle will be founded 
on a scientific basis — the highest duty of the 
educator will be its application to his own par- 
ticular needs and demands." 

Is the experience of practical educators like 
these to be cast aside in favor of the antiquated 
theories of teaching now in vogue ? 

Any one who wonders why country boys be- 
come prominent city men, and why there are 
about as many Western men in New York city 
in business as there are men from the East, can 
find out by looking closely to the difference be- 
tween city and country systems of education. 
If a country village is too small to have a high 
school, it is nevertheless generally the case that 



THE vSCH(30L-R00]\r. 427 

the higher branches are taught to a large extent 
in the commonest of schools. College graduates 
find the profession of teaching a very handy- 
means of paying their expenses while looking 
about the country and seeing where to begin the 
practice of law or medicine, or perhaps drop into 
the pulpit. Boys and girls of twelve or fourteen 
years may be found studying physiology, algebra 
and geometry, natural sciences and chemistry in 
schools all over the new West at a time when 
children of the same age in the large Eastern 
cities are slowly wrestling with the lessons and 
elementary text-books of geography and gram- 
mar and arithmetic. When competitive exami- 
nations for West Point cadetships are held in the 
West the general trouble is that the candidates 
are too young to enter the military academy even 
could they pass the necessary examination and 
succeed in winning the competitive prize. I saw 
such an examination myself in one Western 
town, which was narrowed down to two boys. 
These youngsters, the ablest of all the appli- 
cants, were aged respectively thirteen and four- 
teen years. They passed rigid examinations in 
mathematics, with scarcely a mark against them. 
That is more than could be done by any boys of 
similar age in the public schools of New York 
and Brooklyn and Philadelphia, the three largest 
cities in the Union. 

The rapidity with which children pass through 



428 *' MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

text-books in the newer States and more sparsely 
settled districts is the cause of the great number 
of so-called colleges which are found all over our 
country. There are more colleges by title in the 
United States than in all the rest of the world 
beside. Their standards are never those of the 
universities of Europe — seldom of Yale or Har- 
vard. But they are higher than those of the 
ordinary high schools, and the young man or 
young woman who passes through them has a 
very fair general education, and is fitted to go on 
by private reading to almost any extent. In the 
larger cities of the Hast such opportunities are 
few. There is, perhaps, a single large institu- 
tion in each city, like the High School of Phila- 
delphia or the Normal College of New York, at 
which girls are educated, or the College of the 
City of New York, to which the better boys are 
sent for a full college course if they desire it. 
But these same facilities are demanded and ob- 
tained in the newer cities at a rate that would 
astonish the Eastern person who chose to look 
into the subject. 

The most pressing need of our common school 
system is more teachers. With more teachers 
greater personal attention could be paid to each 
pupil, and smaller time would be required for 
the ordinary school course. In the cities it is 
the rule that boys and girls must leave school at 
a very early age in order to help earn a living 



THE vSCHOOL-ROOM. 429 

for their respective families. The majority of 
them are children of parents who are very poor, 
who have to work terribly hard and save in every 
possible way in order to keep their families from 
starvation. Consequently the children go to 
work as soon as they are large enough to be 
accepted by any employer at any sort of occupa- 
tion. Their subsequent opportunities for learn- 
ing anything are necessarily limited. They 
must learn by general reading if at all, except 
for such few opportunities as are granted them 
by night schools, a beneficent class of educa- 
tional institutions, which those who most need 
them are least able to attend, for how much 
studying can a boy or girl do after nine or ten 
hours of work in a counting-room or shop or 
factory ? With more teachers our city children 
could obtain a fair high school education at the 
age of fourteen, and be better able to make their 
way in the world at whatever their work might be. 
The best finishing school that the people of the 
United States have ever been able to avail them- 
selves of is the course of home reading which one 
society or other has within a few years devised, 
and which some of them are conducting with 
great care and success. Systems of reading and 
consecutive study are devised, books are supplied, 
individuals are selected to receive and inspect ex- 
amination papers to show the capacity of the 
students and to give suggestions according as 



430 " MY COUNTRY, 'tis OF THEE." 

the students may seem to require, and in this 
way one single society has now eighty thousand 
students, with more than a hundred instructors 
and inspectors. This system might be definitely 
extended at very small expense by the various 
States as part of the local system of education. 
Until the blunders of the common school 
system are modified or done away with, it is as 
little as the State can do to give an intelligent 
child this much of consolation and assistance 
for the time that it has been compelled to lose 
by incompetent tuition in the public schools. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

RAII.ROADS. 

The railroad problem is one of tlie most com- 
plicated and vital questions of the day. Nothing, 
perhaps, is so typical of the ingenuity, skill and 
colossal power of our modern civilization as the 
railroad train — a solitary man holding the lever 
which controls this tremendous mass of wood 
and metal, with its freight of goods and passen- 
gers rushing past us at the rate of a mile a 
minute. 

The growth of the railroad is one of the great- 
est marvels of this wonderful century. England 
got her first road from the Romans in 415 A. D. 
To move the Roman armies it was necessary to 
have the " Roman Way," and the remains of 
those wonderful works still excite the admira^^ 
tion of all beholders. The dangers and delays 
of roads in the middle ages, and even in the 
stage-coaching days of our fathers, beset as they 
were with difficulties and terrorized by highway- 
men, all seem to us to belong to some remote 
past. 

It is a new tribute to the genius of that impe- 

431 



432 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

rial people who swayed the world in the earlier 
ages of Christianity that even now, with all our 
facilities of modern travel, our people are begin- 
ning to realize the necessity of roadways ap- 
proximating those which they constructed. The 
farmer often has to haul the products of his 
fields many miles to reach the railway station, 
and the time and the effort needed to get his 
wheat or corn over tortuous and defective road- 
ways entails a very serious loss. In many parts 
of the country the roads in fact are so impassa- 
ble in certain months that the farmer is unable 
to transport his grain to the railway at a time, 
perhaps, when the markets are high, and is 
forced to hold it until the ::eason opens, and to 
dispose of it at a much lower price. There is a 
general awakening of public sentiment to the 
necessity for improvement in this direction, and 
for some years to come there will probably be 
quite as much effort expended in the bettering 
of country roads as in the further improvement 
and extension of our already colossal railroad 
system. 

Until the opening of the railway era, com- 
merce and travel followed the natural lines of 
transportation — the water-ways. There were, it 
is true, a few exceptional instances like those of 
the ancient caravan routes which crossed the 
lines of the great rivers and built up inland 
cities, but the operation of natural laws in time 



RAILROADS. 4oo 

prevailed, and these cities fell into ruins, while 
others sprang up along the coasts and water- 
ways. Even after the introduction of railways, 
the cost of transportation thereby was so heavy 
that the water-ways still commanded the general 
direction of commerce, and it is only since the 
wonderful cheapening of railway rates — due to 
the enormous growth of the traf&c and the intro- 
duction of more heavily loaded cars and other 
economies — that the iron way has dominated the 
water-way and subverted what had been one of 
the maxims of commercial development from the 
earliest times. 

At the present time, where the question of 
time is not important, the carriage of passengers 
and goods by water is so much cheaper than 
by rail as to survive in competition. Where the 
passenger's time is of value, or perishable goods 
are carried, or the merchant is in a hurry to re- 
ceive his consignment, the railway, following 
virtually the shortest distance between the two 
points — piercing mountains, spanning ravines 
and crossing the rivers, is, of course, the neces- 
sary means of communication. Most of the great 
cities that have sprung up within the memory 
of people still living, like those of old, are reared 
on the sea-coasts or the shores of great lakes, or 
on the banks of navigable streams, the facilities 
of transportation by water conspiring to create 
these centres of activity and industry. Where 

28 



434 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

a number of railroad lines concentrate, a great 
city may spring up — like Indianapolis ; or where 
great manufacturing facilities exist, as in the 
juxtaposition of the coal, ore and flux — as at 
Birmingham, Alabama. But these are compara- 
tively few in number, and have not such limits 
of expansion as cities which may be reached by 
water. Aside from their commercial disadvan- 
tages, the inland cities present difficult prob- 
lems, among the most important being that of 
successful sewage and sanitation. 

In this country, indeed, most of the earlier 
railroads were projected merely to connect navi- 
gable streams with one another, or with the 
coast, their founders evidently regarding rail 
transportation as an auxiliary of the natural 
ways, and not as a great rival which was in a 
very few years to dominate them. In other in- 
stances, railways in the early daj'-s were simply 
built along the banks of the rivers, because the 
people found that when the latter were frozen in 
the winter, they needed some other means of 
transportation. These scattered bits of road here 
and there were, in after years, as the possibilities 
of railroad development began to dawn upon the 
minds of far-seeing men, united by connecting 
links and reorganized into roads of much greater 
length. In fact some of the most difficult feat- 
ures of the railroad problem of the present day 
grew out of the failure of projectors of railroads 



RAILROADS. 435 

in tiie early days to grasp the meaning of the 
system which they were instituting. France, 
Germany, Belgium and other European cities 
have had no serious railway problem. The 
English people, however, have passed through 
very nearly the same experience as ours, and we 
are now solving the same questions which puz- 
zled their heads nearly a generation ago. 

The immunity of the continental nations from 
many difficult railway questions arises from the 
fact that they began building railroads after 
England and our own country had undertaken 
them, and after we had sufficiently developed 
their possibilities to show the absurdity of many 
of the ideas that prevailed when they were inau- 
gurated. It was supposed that the first com- 
panies chartered would build a railway just as 
they would build a highway, and that the iron 
way would be open to competitive traffic by indi- 
viduals or combinations of individuals, just as 
the ordinary highway was open. In the charter 
of the first railway company which built a line, 
the Manchester and Liverpool Railway, and in 
fact in all the charters which were granted in 
England prior to 1829, ^^^ ^^^ charters granted 
in this country in the same period, this idea is 
clearly expressed. The Ithaca and Owego Rail- 
way, now a portion of the great New York Cen- 
tral trunk line, was chartered in 1828, and Que 
section of the charter contains this provision: 



436 "my country, 'tis of thee." 

"All persons paying the toll aforesaid may, with 
suitable and proper carriages, use and travel upon 
the said railroad, subject to such rules and regu- 
lations as the said corporators are authorized to 
make by the ninth section of this act." 

It is obvious that the notion entertained by the 
founders of this railway was that they would sim- 
ply own a turnpike with rails upon it, and would 
derive their revenue from the tolls charged upon 
the vehicles that should be rolled over it by indi- 
viduals. It was not until railway building had 
proceeded for about a dozen years that it became 
evident, from the nature of the power employed 
and the higher rate of speed — unforeseen until 
then — that might be attained, that the railwa}^ 
company must monopolize the service over the 
road they built. This rendered necessary an en- 
tire revolution of the principles upon which all 
future charters should be granted. But the fun- 
damental mistake was made. The continental 
peoples began to build their railways after this 
fact was discovered, and therefore had the benefit 
of their predecessors' mistakes, and adopted pre- 
cautions which have relieved them of many awk- 
ward complications. 

Besides this, another mistake of ignorance was 
the belief t^at railways would be used exclusively 
for the transportation of passengers, and it was 
long after the first rails had been laid that the 



RAlLROADvS. 437 

notiou that " light goods " might be conveyed, 
dawned upon their minds. 

Any man who should have told these pioneers 
of the railway world that the United States 
would possess in the year 1889 a hundred and 
sixty thousand miles of railroad, enough to belt 
the world seven times at the Equator, would have 
been regarded as a lunatic. The ownership of 
this vast property is represented by stocks and 
bonds aggregating $9,000,000,000. They receive 
yearly from the public for carrying passengers 
and freights the sum of $1,000,000,000 and, after 
paying the expenses of their operation, including 
the wages of more than 1,000,000 employes, they 
have left an available revenue of $415,000,000. 
More than one of the larger companies has a 
revenue greater than that of the United States 
government was thirty years ago. To earn this 
enormous sum the roads work night and day, 
seven days a week. Through the darkest and 
stormiest winter midnight, as well as through the 
pleasantest summer afternoon, the locomotive 
fires are kept alight and the wheels revolve un- 
ceasingly along the rails. The work they ac- 
complish is something startling in the aggregate. 
In the year 1887, the latest for which the com- 
plete figures are at hand, the railroads of the 
country carried 428,000,000 passengers, travelling 
10,500,000 miles, a distance equal to 450 times 
around the globe. The freight carried in the 



438 "my country, 'tis of thee." 

same year amounted to 552,000,000 tons, and tlie 
distance traversed 62,000,000 miles. 

It is a commonplace to speak of what tlie rail- 
roads have done in the way of opening up the 
country and bringing the blessings of civilization 
into the wilderness. In the Western country, 
where the people formerly wore homespun or the 
coarsest fabrics of Eastern looms, the women now 
receive weekly fashion plates still damp from the 
press, and every cross-roads store has in stock the 
latest patterns, not only from the great cities of 
our own land, but from the centres of European 
fashion. The postal system follows along the 
iron way, the metropolitan newspaper reaches 
the most obscure hamlet dail}'-, and a chapter 
might be written upon the growth of the railway 
postal service alone. The telegraph lines enter 
new territory with the railway, putting the 
dweller in the remotest regions within reach of 
instantaneous communication with all parts of 
the world. 

The effect of the railroad in thus multiplying 
and exchanging not only material products, but 
distributing the news of the day and bringing the 
inhabitants of the Pacific slope and those of the 
Atlantic seaboard into daily intellectual inter- 
course, and thus welding all into one homogeneous 
people, is a theme which has yet to be fully dealt 
with by the pen of the historian. From Maine 
to Texas, go where you will, you find the people 



RAILROADS. 439 

read tlie same news, discuss the same questions, 
and are subjected to the same vivifying influences, 
the ideas of the farmer on the borders broadening 
in even pace with those of the dwellers in the 
cities until such a thing as provincialism is un- 
known on this continent. Indeed, foreigners 
who visit our shores, who have a taste for the 
picturesque, complain of this monotony, and be- 
wail the fact that the American town or hamlet, 
whether situated on the borders of the great 
northern lakes or on the torrid shores of the 
Gulf, presents essentially the same exterior as- 
pect and identical social conditions. 

It would be too much to expect that this great 
railway system, with its unprecedented army of 
employes and the revenues of an empire, should 
be an unadulterated blessing ; that it should not 
carry some alloy in its composition. Like most 
humane institutions, even the most beneficent, it 
has wrought mischiefs as well as brought great 
benefits. Until now the needs of our rapidly 
developing country were such that communi- 
ties everywhere were clamoring for roads which 
would bring to them what they needed from the 
outside world and place within reach markets for 
their own products. Consequently, every possi- 
ble inducement was offered for the building of 
railway lines, and without surrounding their con- 
struction with such safeguards as had already 
been found necessary in old and thickly popu- 



440 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OI^ THEE." 

lated countries. The result has been in many 
parts of the country an over-building of lines 
which has entailed subsequent losses and diffi- 
culties and the creation of abuses and complica- 
tions which together constitute what has come 
to be known as " the railway problem." It is 
clear that what might be broadly called the con- 
structive period in our railway system is ended, 
and that we have now fairly entered upon a 
period of restriction and regulation. The people 
have now to learn to subdue and control these 
great Frankensteins of their own creation. 

As Mr. Frederick Taylor, President of the 
Western National Bank of New York, who has 
all his life been a close student of the railway 
question, says : " Though the railroads have 
probably contributed more than all other agen- 
cies combined to make the United States what 
they are, no one will deny that the incalculable 
benefit which we have derived from their growth 
and development has not been, and is not, wholly 
' unmixed of evil.' Leaving out other considera- 
tions, it is not unfair to say that three-quarters 
of all the legislative corruption from which we 
have suffered during the past fifty years have 
been directly chargeable to the railways ; and 
that a very large proportion, perhaps nearly as 
much as half, of the litigation that has occupied 
our courts during the same period has been di- 
rectly connected with railway matters." 



RAILROADvS. 441 

The great panic of 1873 was directly due to 
the over-building of railroads. Following it 
came several years of terrible business depres- 
sion throughout the country, in which time and 
money was spent in trying to clear away the 
wreck. Hundreds of railroad companies were 
bankrupted and loss and suffering were entailed 
upon hundreds of thousands of persons who had 
invested their savings in these enterprises. In 
no end of instances the stocks of the companies 
were wiped out of existence entirely, the roads 
sold under foreclosure and reorganized. Again, 
in 1877, when the country was just begin- 
ning to recover from the shock, it was dis- 
turbed and depressed for a long time by the 
trouble between the railroad companies and their 
workmen, which in some cases culminated in 
riot and bloodshed. Another period of artifi- 
cially stimulated railroad building reached its 
culmination in the panic of 1884, and two years 
later widespread strikes among railway opera- 
tives again disturbed the entire business of the 
country. During all this period the legislatures 
of the various States and the National Congress 
were busy with legislation intended to modify or 
remedy the evils complained of. 

The question presents such difficulties that 
many students, including Mr. Taylor, can find 
a solution of the question only in the suggestion 
of national control of the railroads throughout 



442 " i\iY COUNTRY,- 'tis of thee." 

tlie country. Mr. Taylor's idea, however, is that 
they should not be owned and operated by the 
nation, but that the government should have the 
same sort of control which it now exercises over 
the national banks ; in other words, that the 
national railway commission should supervise 
the railroads with the same authority which the 
Treasury Department exercise sover the national 
banking system. 

The unrestricted building of railroads under 
the provisions of the general railroad acts passed 
in most of the States, following that adopted in 
New York in 1850, has given rise to destructive 
competition and brought about some of the knot- 
tiest points in the railroad problem. It was held 
for many years, and is even now contended by a 
great many people, that the building of railroads, 
like any other business, should be left free to the 
unrestricted enterprise of individuals and associa- 
tions of individuals. " If a lot of fellows see fit 
to put their money into building a railroad where 
there is not enough traffic to sustain it, and the 
road goes into bankruptcy, that is their affair, not 
ours ; it is their money that is lost." That is 
about how the average citizen talks on this sub- 
ject. There could be no greater mistake. 

In the first place the railroads are public high- 
ways, and as such must be supervised by the 
community. When in ordinary conversation in 
this country we speak of a " road," from Chicago 



RAILROADS. 443 

to St. Paul for instance, it is always understood 
that a railroad is meant. In tlie older countries 
the mention of " roads " is understood to refer to 
a turnpike. The reason foi the difference of 
usage is obvious. In old and settled countries 
the highways were in existence for centuries be- 
fore rails were laid, and the word " road " there- 
fore continues to hold its primary meaning. 
With us it is the railroad line which first enters 
into new territory, and it may be years before the 
contiguous region is sufficiently settled to render 
an ordinary wagon-road necessary. 

The vital fallacy in the popular argument that 
" competition will settle this question of too many 
roads " lies in assuming that a railroad is, like an 
individual, private enterprise. If a man starts a 
hat shop in a neighborhood already well supplied 
with hatters, and he is bankrupted in the strug- 
gle for business, that is the end of him. He has 
lost his money and the shop is closed and the 
equilibrium of supply and demand in hats is re- 
stored. But when a railroad becomes bankrupted 
it does not go out of existence in that way. 
Where is there an instance in this country of a 
road, once built, having been abandoned or ob- 
literated? No; the bankrupted road is placed 
under the protection of a court and in the hands 
of a receiver. It conducts a fiercer warfare than 
ever against its solvent rivals ; for the bankrupted 
road is relieved from the necessity of paying in- 



444 " UY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

terest on its mortgage or paying its debts, and 
continues to do business at lower rates than ever, 
for the receiver must keep it a-going pending its 
reorganization or whatever disposition is to be 
made of it. 

The English people long ago reached a point 
which we are approaching fast, in that before a 
railroad is built its projectors must obtain a 
special charter, and in order to obtain that they 
must prove that there is a public need of the new 
line. Any one who has read the papers for the 
past few years will readily recall many instances 
of the destructive effects of building lines in ter- 
ritory already well supplied with transportation 
facilities. Take the West Shore road, which par- 
alleled the New York Central, and not only sunk 
the capital of its own builders but forced a decline 
of fifty per cent, in the market price of New York 
Central, which from an eight per cent, dividend- 
paying corporation practically ceased to earn 
more than its fixed charges. The " Nickel 
Plate" road, paralleling the Lake Shore from 
Buffalo to Toledo, is another glaring instance in 
point. And still later we have the building of 
an unnecessary line from Kansas City to Chicago 
by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, 
which has resulted in the fall of the stock of the 
latter company from about par to less than fifty 
cents on the dollar, with a coincident cessation 
of dividends. 



RAILROADS, 445 

A Host of mischiefs and evils have sprung 
from the almost unrestrained power of railroad 
officials in the matter of their charges. By- 
charging some shippers more and others less by 
means of secret contracts, the officials opened to 
themselves a field of unlimited profit. An awk- 
ward fact, which there is no denying, is the large 
fortunes, in most cases running into the millions, 
possessed by men who are or who have been rail- 
road officials on modest salaries, and who had 
nothing before entering upon these positions. 
The cost of transportation being such an im- 
portant factor in the price of commodities, it was 
quite easy for the railway to enrich one man and 
beggar or drive out of business another in the 
same trade, and this was done according to the 
personal interests of the man or men who could 
thus make rates. More than this, it was not at 
all difficult for the railroad to impoverish one town 
or city and build up another by discriminating in 
rates. 

In fact, the railroad had the power to say 
whether a merchant should or should not succeed 
in business, whether a town should or should not 
grow in population and prosperity. • In the Hep- 
burn committee's investigation of the New York 
railroads in 1879 it was shown that the milling 
business in certain towns of northern New York 
had been killed by railroads granting rates which 
favored Minneapolis and other western points. 



44.6 " MY COUNTRY, 'tis OF THEE." 

In one town all the millers bnt one were obliged 
to go out of business, and it was elicited in the 
investigation that this man had a secret contract 
with the railroad by which they carried his com- 
modity for much lower rates than any of the 
others. The merchants of New York at that 
time complained that the discriminations of the 
railroads against the metropolis were driving 
away its trade to Baltimore and other points. 
The nefarious contracts made by the railroads 
with the Standard Oil Company were discovered 
so recently as to be still fresh in the public mind. 
It will be remembered that the railroads not only 
carried the Standard's oil for a fraction of that 
charged a certain individual oil refiner, but 
actually paid over to the Standard Oil Company 
the overcharges of which they mulcted the un- 
fortunate individual refiner. 

The creation of railroad commissions in the 
various States, and the more recent establishment 
of the Interstate Commerce Commission under 
the provisions of an act prohibiting these dis- 
criminations, forbidding the charging more for a 
longer than for a shorter haul, and inflicting a 
severe penalty for making railroad pools, goes far 
to remedy many of the most glaring evils com- 
plained of. But laws after all cannot make men 
moral, and, as President Charles Francis Adams, 
of the Union Pacific Railroad, said recently, " one 
of the chief causes of the railroad troubles is the 



RAILROADS. 447 

low standard of commercial honor among railway 
officials." The opportunities for personal profit 
possessed by dishonest railroad officials, while 
somewhat diminished by the prohibition of dis- 
criminating rates by which they were enabled to 
build up one town in which they had an interest, 
or to favor certain firms in which they or their 
friends were partners, have been removed ; but 
the avenues of unlawful gain still open to them 
are almost innumerable. As Herbert Spencer 
remarked in dealing with this same subject in 
England a quarter of a century ago, " corpora- 
tions have no souls." A combination of men 
will stoop to acts which the conscience of no one 
of them would sanction as an individual act. 
So, too, a man will deal with the rights and prop- 
erty of a corporation as he would never think of 
dealing with those of an individual. 

Among the more frequent abuses of their offi- 
cial power, we find railroad officers personally 
buying lands in new territory or mining lands, 
and then building at the expense of the corpora- 
tion branch lines to reach these properties and 
enhance their value ; the establishment of manu- 
facturing or business enterprises, in which the 
railway men are often secret partners, and secur- 
ing for these enterprises favorable terms, and 
then contracting with the railroad to do business 
for less than cost ; the fast freight lines, which 
ply over many roads, and which have excep- 



448 "my countpy, 'tis of thee." 

tionally easy contracts with the corporations 
and are in many instances the individual enter- 
prises of railway officials. It was not long since 
shown that some of these lines were actually 
competing with the railroad proper for freight, 
and carrying it with express speed as low as 
the railroad could afford to carry it in ordinary 
freight cars. 

Many of the swindles and abuses in railroad 
management owe their conception to the scan- 
dalous example of Fisk and Gould in the Erie 
Railroad. One or two of the little tricks played 
by Gould and his partner in that road, will give 
an idea of the possibilities of profit in dishonest 
railway management. When Gould became 
president and treasurer of the road twenty years 
ago, the Brie had a very favorable and long- 
standing lease of the Chemung and Canan- 
daigua roads. The rental was exceedingly low, 
having been made at a time when the leased 
lines were in financial trouble. By the terms 
of the. contract, if the Erie should at any time 
fail to pay the rental, the lease was to be thereby 
abrogated. Under the circumstances, the secu- 
rities of these roads were naturally selling for a 
mere song. Gould, through his agents, quietly 
bought up these securities for about their weight 
in waste paper, thus becoming the sole owner of 
the roads. Then, in his capacity as president 
and treasurer of the Erie, he deliberately failed 



RAILROADS. 449 

to pay the rental, tlius cutting off tlie road from 
its lease and leaving him free to dispose of it as 
he pleased. He thereupon sold the roads to the 
Northern Central Railroad of Pennsylvania for 
three million dollars. 

Again, the Northern Railroad of New Jersey 
had a stock capital of $159,000 and $300,000 
of bonds. It had never been able to earn divi- 
dends on this small amount of stock. It was 
leased to the Erie on favorable terms. Here was 
another example of Gould's genius. Four mil- 
lion dollars in bonds were issued on the prop- 
erty, and a million dollars of stock, which was 
divided among the conspirators ; and then, to 
give these securities a market value, a new lease 
was made to the Erie by which the latter guaran- 
teed thirty-five per cent, of the road's net earn- 
ings — enough to pay interest on the enormous 
creation of new bonds and four or five per cent, 
on the stock. 

One more instance : The National Stock Yard 
Company was organized by the conspirators. 
The Erie Company advanced a million dollars, 
taking bonds to that amount. A million dollars 
of stock was then issued, representing not one 
cent of money paid, and was divided among the 
gang. 

It is well known that in nearly every large 
railroad company there is a construction ring 
w^hicli builds all extensions and feeders on the 

29 



45C " M\ COUNTRY, 'tis OF THEE." 

most extravagantly profitable terms granted by 
the railroad company, the officials of the railroad 
being the chief parties in interest in the ring. 

Aside from all these rascalities in the actual 
management of the properties, is the deplorable 
fact that the officials and directors speculate in 
the shares of their own concerns, thus betraying 
the interests of the bo7ia fide stockholders, whose 
trustees they are. It is more than suspected 
that the chief bears who have been active in 
depressing the securities of some of the Western 
roads during the past winter were in partnership 
with the directors and other officers of these cor- 
porations. It is easy to see that those in a posi- 
tion to know the exact earnings of a company 
and to foresee the possibilities in the way of divi- 
dends have the advantage of everybody else in 
estimating the future market value of the secu- 
rities. 

While the holders of railroad bonds and shares, 
however, display so much apathy with reference 
to the management of their properties and the 
election of proper men to administer them, they 
deserve little sympathy. It is notorious that the 
annual elections of most of our railroads are the 
merest p^'o foi^7}2a affairs. The men who are in 
power send out blanks every year asking for the 
proxies of shareholders, and the latter fonvard 
them, and thus enable these men to continue in 
power and practically own the corporations they 



RAILROADS. 451 

control. Where there is a contest for control, it 
usually lies, not between the shareholders, on 
some kind of principle in the administration of 
the property, but is found to be between two 
speculative Wall street factions, each of whom 
is anxious to secure the pickings. Until the 
shareholders of American roads take an active 
interest in their properties, as do English share- 
holders for instance, and insist upon the publi- 
cation of the annual reports in advance of the 
meetings in order that they may attend the 
meetings and question their officials upon all 
dubious points, there can be little hope of per- 
manent reform. In cases where there is a con- 
test, it is not at all uncommon for an interested 
faction to pay stockholders a small sum for the 
proxies on their stock — a proceeding which has 
been aptly compared to a merchant selling to a 
burglar for a dollar in cash the use of the key 
of his safe every night. So much for the rela- 
tions of holders of shares and bonds to the men 
who manage the corporations. As to the rela- 
tions of the railroads to the public, it is clear 
that the recent widespread discussion and the 
salutary influence of the Interstate Commission 
must lead to beneficent results. 

Aside from the great majority of the people, 
whose interests are indirectly but surely affected 
by any juggling with railroad properties and 
principles, is a great army of men who -obtain 



452 *' MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEB." 

their livelihood and that of their families by 
work on or for railroads. An army ? Yes ; 
more men than ever were seen in the largest 
army in the world. All of them are " effectives," 
too — none of them can be found among " the 
sick, lame and lazy," Chauncey M. Depew, 
President of the New York Central road, says 
truly: " With those who are actually in the ser- 
vice, and those who contribute by supplies, one- 
tenth of the working force of the United States 
are in the railroad service ; and that tenth in- 
cludes the most energetic men and most intelli- 
gent among the workers of this magnificent 
country. There are ten million working men in 
this country, and six hundred thousand are di- 
rectly employed in the railway service. With 
their families they constitute a larger population 
than the largest of the States." 

Mr. Depew further says, with equal truth: 
" There is no democracy like the railway system 
of this land. Men are not taken out of rich 
men's parlors and placed in positions of responsi- 
bility. Men are not taken because they are sons 
of such, and put into paying places in the rail- 
way systems ; but the superintendents all over 
the country, the men who officer and man the 
passenger, the freight, and motive power and ac- 
counting departments, all of them come up from 
the bottom. Are you going to stop this thing? 
No ! There are no men being born or to be born 



RAILROADS. 453 

who are to be by inheritance the superintendents, 
treasurers, comptrollers, auditors, the freight and 
ticket agents, the conductors, the yard masters, 
who are to be the master mechanics, the foremen 
of the shops, of the future. They are not born. 
They have got to be made and come from the 
bottom up. And in every one of these depart- 
ments to-day, in every railroad in the United 
States, in the humblest positions, earning the 
smallest salaries, are men, who within the next 
twenty-five years, are to fill all these places by 
promotion. Don't tell me there is no chance to 
rise in this country." 

When this army grumbles, as once in a while 
it does, there is good cause for alarm ; not that 
they, like the disaffected of other armies, may do 
damage to life and property, but because their 
troubles are almost always traceable to stock-jug- 
gling rascalities, from which the men have no 
hope of redress. Some of the companies allow 
no business operations to interfere with the rights 
of their employees. Mr. Cornelius Vanderbilt is 
probably the most extensive owner of railway 
stock in the world, but he finds time to see his 
own employees frequently, and has even built and 
furnished a handsome club-room for them. He 
has also been active in assisting the Young Men's 
Christian Association in establishing reading 
rooms at railway centres. President Charles 
Francis Adams, of the Union Pacific Company, 



454 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE:." 

found time not long ago to publish, in a maga- 
zine article, the outline of a system for retaining 
and encouraging competent employees. President 
Roberts, of the great Pennsylvania road, is as 
proud of his men as any general ever was of his 
army. 

These railroad magnates, and others who might 
be named, are setting a good example, which it is 
to be hoped some other officials will have sense 
enough to follow. It is bad enough for stock- 
holders to be annoyed and impoverished by stock- 
juggling operations, but when the employees also 
suffer the whole country suffers with them. It 
is an unpardonable crime for any company, man- 
aging a road which deserves to exist, to take such 
good care of its managers that its employees must 
strike and even fight to be sure of living wages. 
Railway strikes hurt every traveller, every ship- 
per, every receiver in the country. They never 
would begin if managers were honest. Stick a 
pin here and keep youi eye on it. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

BANKS AND BANKING. 

We are told by an old chronicler of the quaint 
and curious that in ancient times a number of 
Hebrews scattered in the cities along the shores 
of the Mediterranean conducted a most profitable 
banking business without the use of capital, by 
drawing one upon the other, in a perfect circle, 
the draft upon one being taken up by the next 
banker in the series, and so on ad infinitmn. 

Perhaps it will not do to scrutinize this story 
too closely, but there are many instances of 
almost as odd and ingenious devices in the his- 
tory of banking. It was not until within a com- 
paratively recent period that banks began to 
issue circulating notes. The early bankers were 
for the most part merely lenders of money, and 
this species of banker was called into existence 
very early in the world's history. In fact, he 
was the natural result of the invention of money. 

"A simple invention," says Carlyle, "it was 
in the Old World grazier, sick of lugging his ox 
about the country until he could get it bartered 
for corn or oil, to take a piece of leather and 

455 



456 ''my country, 'tis of thee/' 

thereon scratch or stamp the mere figure of an 
ox {pecus\ put it in his pocket and call it pe- 
cuniae money. Yet hereby did barter grow sale ; 
the leather money is now golden and paper, and 
all miracles have been out-miracled ; for there 
are Rothschilds and English national debts ; and 
whoso has sixpence is sovereign to the length of 
sixpence over all men ; commands cooks to feed 
him, philosophers to teach him, kings to mount 
guard over him — to the length of sixpence." 

It has been claimed on behalf of the bankers' 
craft that they date back to Abraham, because it 
is recorded that he weighed out four hundred 
shekels of silver as the purchase-money for the 
cave and field of Macpelah wherein to bury Sarah. 
But this is rather far-fetched. Livy, however, 
writes of the tables of the mone3^-changers in 
the Roman forum existing 300 years before 
Christ, and later Latin writers refer to deposits, 
checks and drafts, with all the familiarity of a 
financier of the present day, as if they were in 
general use. In these days, when the capitalists 
of the world are puzzled to invest their money 
safely to yield them three per cent., it is refresh- 
ing to remember that the old Greek bankers or 
money-lenders exacted as much as thirt3^-six per 
cent, a year from the spendthrift youths or em- 
barrassed merchants of that day. Aristophanes, 
in one of his comedies, makes a money-lender 
bitterly bewail the fact that he has only been 



"■" BANKS AND BANKING. 457 

able to get four per cent, on his loan. Tlie 
Greek bankers used the temples as safe-deposit 
vaults for the storage of their treasures, and 
seem to have taken the priests into a sort of 
partnership. Something of the same sort prob- 
ably prevailed among the Jews, and it is not diffi- 
cult to believe that they were usurious, for the 
Saviour, when He overturned their tables in the 
temple, called them thieves — " My house shall 
be called the house of prayer, but ye have made 
it a den of thieves." 

During succeeding ages, however, the meth- 
ods of banking seem to have been lost until re- 
discovered and re-established by the Jews. A 
bank was established at Venice in the latter part 
of the twelfth century, another at Genoa in 1345, 
and they came into existence in several of the 
Dutch cities early in the seventeenth century. 
All of these were, in a sense, state banks, lending 
money to the state, and exercising their func- 
tions under its authority and protection. The 
Jews, and the Lombards, who had been taught in 
their schools, were Umost the only money-lenders 
of Europe from the twelfth to the fifteenth cen- 
tury. 

The first money-lender in England who at all 
approaches our modern idea of a banker was 
William de la Pole, a shipping-merchant of Hull, 
who loaned Edward the Third large sums to 
carry on his French wars, and in return the king 



458 "my country, 'tis of thee." 

made over to him the collection of customs and 
internal revenues. He collected the royal rents 
and acted as paymaster of the army, and in a 
general way became the royal banker. Naturally 
a title was conferred upon him. 

The prefix of "Sir" was subsequently given to 
Dick Whittington, of cat celebrity, for similar ser- 
vices to Henry the Fourth and Henry the Fifth. 
The goldsmiths in those times acted as money- 
lenders and pawnbrokers. After Charles the First 
grabbed about a million dollars, which they had 
deposited in the mint for safe-keeping, the nobles 
began to deposit their money with the gold- 
smiths, who allowed them interest thereon, and 
from having the custody of their rents and their 
income it was a natural step for them to request 
the goldsmiths to collect the money. The gold- 
smiths gave written evidences of indebtedness 
for the sums intrusted to them, and these were 
often transmitted by the holders in settlement of 
debt. When one of these goldsmiths speculated 
unfortunately or his business went wrong, his 
depositors naturally had to suffer. 

Losses of this kind paved the way for the 
establishment of the Bank of England in 1694. 
It was planned by a Scotchman named William 
Patterson, who, however, derived many of his 
ideas from the Bank of Amsterdam, which was 
then in successful operation. In return for a 
loan of twelve hundred thousand pounds sterling 



BANKS AND BANKING. 450 

to the government the lenders, who organized 
the bank, were granted certain exclnsive priv- 
ileges, and their concern became the depository 
of the government money and has remained such 
ever since. It has now the accounts of many 
thousand private depositors, pays the interest on 
the government debt, issues circulating notes, 
and to a certain extent controls the rate of in- 
terest on money in England. 

As to the establishment of banking. Congress- 
man Ben Butterworth, of Ohio, says : 

" In the forces of civilization we find the banker 
in the forefront. It was a banker that first taught 
the world the maxim of an honest commerce. 
It was the Bank of Venice that w^as the first to 
arbitrate commerce and control the seas ; it was 
a banker that first taught a nation that the pub- 
lic fidelity was the right basis of all successful 
effort in the business world. For six hundred 
years Venice maintained unstained her honor, 
elevating the civilization of the world. In course 
of time she was succeeded by Amsterdam and 
Antwerp, their bankers honoring every check 
and paying every piece of paper, teaching the 
world that there was a giant in trade and com- 
merce capable of strangling a nation. The 
bankers thus brought the world together, made 
the nations of the earth one man, one common- 
wealth." 

Savings banks originated in Switzerland, and 



460 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEK." 

were instituted mainly for tlie benefit of the 
poor. They were organized by benevolent per- 
sons, who received no salaries for their services, 
and no capital was required. The purpose was 
rather to induce working-people to save from 
their earnings something for a rainy day or to 
provide for their old age, and consequently but 
little effort at first was made to secure large earn- 
ings on the deposits. The first we can learn of 
in Switzerland was established in 1805. A dozen 
years later they were organized in Scotland and 
England, and shortly after in France. In this 
country the first was organized in Boston in 
18 16, and within a few j'^ears they were to be 
found in New York, Baltimore, and Philadelphia, 
and their success in these centres soon led to 
their establishment in all the large towns 
throughout the country. They were chartered 
by the States, and were held by the State 
authorities to account for their honest and pru- 
dent management. 'Naturally the ideas of legis- 
lators in the various States differed somewhat as 
to the nature and functions of the banks, and 
hence there was a difference in their organization 
at the beginning, which subsequent legislation 
has made still more marked. There are now in 
existence three different classes of savings banks: 
the first is of the primitive type, instituted with- 
out capital ; the second are joint-stock concerns, 
and the third are of the trust-company type, and 



BANKS AND BANKING. 4G1 

transact a banking business aside from the mere 
receipt and investment of deposits. 

As population increased and the banks multi- 
plied in number, and the desirability of estab- 
lishing these banks became more general, the}^ 
were no longer required to have a special charter 
in each instance, but were permitted to organize 
under general laws. The deposits in these now 
amount to a thousand million dollars, and the 
number of depositors in the Northern and Middle 
States is about three millions. Objection has 
been raised in some quarters to the joint-stock 
type of savings bank, on the ground that its 
deposits must be loaned profitably for the pay- 
ment of dividends, and that consequently greater 
risks are incurred. This risk is still greater 
where savings banks are permitted to do a com- 
mercial business, as the paper which they dis- 
count may prove inconvertible in a time of 
commercial depression or in a panic. In some 
of the States the depositors are given the prefer- 
ence in such circumstances. 

Mr. T. H. Hinchman, a prominent banker of 
Detroit, says : " The change from the purpose 
and policy of original savings institutions has 
been progressive, but of questionable character. 
It was not the acquirement of experience or the 
result of greater wisdom, but of enterprise by 
those in pursuit of greater profit. Different aims 
and objects should be under distinct, separate, 



462 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE " 

and appropriate laws. Benevolent institutions 
require different men and other management 
than those conducted on a commercial basis for 
profit." He argues that there should be separate 
enactments for savings institutions and for trust 
companies, and indeed a .wise distinction is made 
by the laws of most of the older States. These 
undoubtedly prove advantageous to all banks and 
bankers, as they simplify and increase their 
business. Of&cers of banks doing a mixed busi- 
ness are thereby relieved from error, responsi- 
bilities, risks, and cares, and savings depositors 
escape commercial hazard, and are free from 
risks caused by mismanagement of persons who 
advertise as savings banks. 

Those who remember the frightful confusion 
that prevailed before the establishment of the Na- 
tional Banking system, when the notes of the old 
State banks constituted a considerable portion of 
the circulating medium, are among the most ardent 
admirers of the present system, at least so far as 
its method for the issue and guarantee of notes 
is concerned. In those days the laborer often 
went to his home on Saturday night carrying 
the wages of his week's labor in the shape of 
notes issued by banks in half a dozen different 
States, and when his thrifty wife went out to ex- 
pend them in purchase of the necessaries of life 
for her family she would be distressed to find 
that for some she could get but ninety cents on 



BANKS AND BANKING. 4G'o 

the dollar, for others eighty cents, and that still 
others were of too questionable a character to be 
accepted by the shopkeepers at all. The farmer 
often received for the fruits of his toil notes of 
which he could know nothing, and which would be 
subsequently declared by experts to be worthless 
because the bank which had issued them was in 
liquidation, and it was not at all uncommon to 
find a forged note or two among them, for in the 
myriad issues of bills of every conceivable design 
and character of engraving the forger had an 
easy task. 

The present National Banking system probably 
never could have been called into existence ex- 
cept for the difficulties in which the government 
was involved by the war with the South, for a 
scheme overthrowing, as it did, so many other 
systems organized by the authority of States 
would have met with an irresistible storm of op- 
position. As it was, the act authorizing it was 
fought not only by the opponents of the adminis- 
tration then in power, but by men like Roscoe 
Conkling, of New York, and Senator Collamer, 
of Vermont. 

Mr. Logan C. Murray, President of the United 
States National Bank of New York city, thus 
speaks of the National Banking system : 

" In 1863 the government of the United States, 
irrespective of State lines, took hold of the bank 
question and made it a national one, inaugurat- 



464 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

ing a state of perfection wliicli I believe is un- 
paralleled in the history of finance among the 
nations of the world. 

" This child of the war between the States, 
born in the very travail of the soul of the nation, 
is to-day full-grown, of five and twenty years, 
comely, substantial, and has not been disappoint- 
ing. Hard money was scarce in 1861. There 
had been built upon this limited supply, through 
the channels of credit, a massive structure ; sud- 
denly, as the storm arose, the sky became dark 
and the curtains of night were let down around 
State boundaries ; with these parcels of credit, 
known as State currency, far from home, with no 
foster parent hand near by to protect it, inter- 
course cut off, we found ourselves depending 
upon a broken staff which was as chaff in the 
mighty storm, commercial ruin on every hand, 
and our shores strewn with the wrecks of a dis- 
membered, useless and faithless medium. 

" We found the Secretary of the Treasury 
knocking at the doors of our strongest moneyed 
institutions, asking from them aid in his great dis- 
tress, appealing to the wisdom, courage, patriot- 
ism and resources of an almost forlorn hope. 
How nobly he was met is a matter of history. 

" Not, however, until 1863, or two years after- 
wards, did the National Bank system have its 
birth — born of despair, of want, blood-bought, 
yea, in the very darkness of that midnight storm. 



u 




BANKS AND BANktNG. 465 

Yet it is but the survival of the fittest. And now 
let us sees after the uses which have been made 
of the system, and after the unparalleled prosper- 
ity which has come to us as a nation under its 
influence, if the parent of all this prosperity, to 
a greater or less degree, is to breathe its last — if 
its strong arm is to be stilled, and if we are to 
look for something better. Shall we wonder that 
men are bewildered when we look into the future 
and ask what is to supply the vacuum caused by 
the decay of the National Banking system ? I 
for one answer : 

" Do not fear, the National Banking system is 
not going to be destroyed. In the fulness of 
time it will be yet better established. 

" Let us divide the system into two parts, as it 
were, and treat them as they may be. First, 
there is the Treasury of the United States, the 
Secretary charged with certain duties, the Comp- 
troller of the Currency, the executive ofiicer with 
each of the four thousand National Banks in 
every section of the land reporting to him, respon- 
sible to him, and he to the country at large — and 
by far his greatest responsibility is the care, 
faithful preservation and safe return to the de- 
positors of the great mass of the deposits of the 
people made with these institutions. This is one 
part, and the great part of the system — the care 
of the deposits of the people and the careful and 
safe loaning of these deposits to the commercial 

30 



466 *' MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THBE " 

aud manufacturing community by each institu- 
tion, all under its general supervision. 

" Now we come to the next part of the business 
of the system, and that is issuing note circula- 
tion. Does it occur to you how small a propor- 
tion of the circulation of the United States to-day 
the National Bank circulation is ? Let us say it 
is about one-fifth part. Now let us assume that 
this shall gradually be cut off, as undesirable as 
that is ; it is gradually declining, while other 
mediums of circulation are advancing in volume. 
We must remember that money, actual money, 
is about four per cent, only of all commercial 
transaction ; credit, and credit alone, supplies the 
other ninety-six per cent. 

" I do not think any National Bank or any 
other bank should emit any note or bill, for cir- 
culation without it is secured. Is it not true that 
there are very many National Banks in the 
United States to-day which do not issue circula- 
tion, even though banks of a capital of $150,000 
and above are required to lodge but $50,000 of 
bonds with the Treasury, and some of these do 
not take out circulation on those bonds — whereas 
a small bank in Dakota is required to lodge one- 
fourth part of its capital, say if it is $50,000, it 
is required to lodge $12,500 of bonds with the 
Treasury, whether it takes out circulation or not ? 
Why is it so ? If they issue no circulation, then 
no bonds should be required. If large banks to- 



BANKS AND BANKING. 407 

day are not issuing circulation on tlie small 
amount of bonds required, say $50,000, even 
thougli its capital be $5,000,000 (as is the case), 
then why require one-fourth part of the capital 
of a small bank to be invested in high-priced 
bonds before beginning business ? 

" Therefore, repeal that part of the National 
Bank act which requires a deposit of United 
States bonds from a bank which is to receive no 
circulation. If a bank choose to lodge bonds, 
then give it the privilege of issuing circulation 
on them, as of old." 

The reduction, and now the current purchase, 
of government bonds, which serve as a basis of 
circulation for National Bank notes, have driven 
the bonds to such a high premium that the banks 
some years ago began to surrender their circula- 
tion at such a rate as to seriously contract the 
currency and excite apprehension as to the result. 
But for the issue of silver certificates, which have 
largely taken their place, a crisis would, in the 
opinion of many financiers, have been reached 
long ago. The profit on circulation was so se- 
riously reduced by the high price of the bonds, on 
which it is based, that a number of banks in New 
York city and elsewhere surrendered their char- 
ters as National Banks and organized under the 
law as State institutions. They were largely im- 
pelled to do this by a desire to escape the restric- 
tions imposed by the National Banking laws and 



468 '' MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE " 

the scrutiny of the Comptroller of the Currency 
and the officials of his department. The passage 
of the law forbidding over-certification compelled 
a number of them to take this course. In Au- 
gust, 1883, the Wall Street National Bank was 
forced to suspend. An examination by the gov- 
ernment officials showed that it had certified 
checks of a firm $200,000 in excess of their bal- 
ance in cash and that this was the principal 
cause of the bank's failure. The cashier was in- 
dicted, but the bank was wound up, went out of 
existence, and the intention of making a terrible 
example of the delinquent official, who, however, 
acted with the approval of the president and di- 
rectors, appears to have been abandoned. 

Touching the opposition shown in Congress 
and elsewhere to National Banking systems, ex- 
United States Comptroller of the Currency John 
Jay Knox says : 

" The system has been of immense benefit to 
the government in its disbursements and in 
funding temporary loans and also in the refund- 
ing of its debt which, but twenty-eight years ago, 
amounted to $2,845,000,000. The National 
Banking system rendered more valuable service 
to the government than any other human agency 
in the resumption of specie payments. The 
National Banks held on the day of resumption 
(January i, 1879) 125,000,000 of United States 
demand circulating notes. Sixty-two National 



BANKS AND BANKING. 469 

and State banks in the Clearing House of New 
York unanimously voted to receive tlie legal 
tender notes upon an equality witli gold, and on 
the day of resumption the banks of that city, 
which held $40,000,000 of legal tender notes, did 
not present a dollar then, or subsequently to this 
day, for payment in coin. As at the commence- 
ment of the war the banks parted with their 
gold for the benefit of the government, so at its 
close and upon the resumption of specie pay- 
ments they relinquished the right of again de- 
manding it, and were well satisfied to receive in- 
stead the demand notes of the government, 
which are redeemable in coin upon presenta- 
tion. Yet, notwithstanding these important ser- 
vices, the legislative department of the govern- 
ment has never been strong in its friendship for 
this system. The statutes of the government 
contain very much restrictive and very little 
friendly legislation toward the institutions which 
were created by its fiat. A few years ago, when 
the charters of most of the banks were expiring, 
it was only after a long contest that an act was 
passed authorizing a renewal of their privileges. 
If at any time favorable legislation has been 
granted by Congress, it has been given * grudg- 
ingly ' and not as a * cheerful giver.' 

" We have heard much of the surplus and the 
necessity of the reduction of the revenue. Both 
parties profess to be in favor of such reduction. 



470 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE " 

Both parties have proposed to reduce the tax on 
the ' filthy weed,' and both parties proposed legis- 
lation granting relief to the whiskey manufact- 
urer and the whiskey drinker ; but not one officer 
of the government, nor one man of either House, 
has had sufficient courage to propose the lessen- 
ing or the repeal of the tax on the circulation of 
the banks, which now amounts to less than 
$1,700,000 and which is the last of the remain- 
ing 'war taxes,' except the tax upon the two 
deleterious articles referred to, which are con- 
sidered by the leading civilized nations as the 
most fit subjects for * high taxation.' 

" Yet no class of corporations since the organi- 
zation of the government have contributed so 
largely toward the support of the State and the 
nation, and no class of corporations have ever 
been so unmercifully taxed as the banking in- 
stitutions of this country. Not only have Con- 
gress and the different State Legislatures im- 
posed high rates of taxation, but the courts of 
the country, including the Supreme Court of the 
United States, composed as it is of able jurists 
who should be devoid of all prejudice, have con- 
strued the questions which have been brought 
before them with rigor worthy of the bitterest 
enemy of the system. While other corporations 
engaged in precisely the same line of business 
are authorized to do business almost without 
legislative restrictions and without taxation, the 



BANKS AND BANKING. 471 

very higliest rates that can be imposed are placed 
upon these institutions, whose only source of 
profit is the loaning of money at the rates of in- 
terest fixed by the same high authority which 
imposes the taxation. Yet, notwithstanding the 
opposition of Congress and the unfriendly deci- 
sions of the courts and the bitter enemity of in- 
dividuals, the system has steadily and rapidly 
grown in favor, until the institutions organized 
under it from the beginning number nearly four 
thousand, some of which are located in every 
State and Territory as well as in every consider- 
able village in the land." 

As the steady reduction of the national debt 
proceeds, students of financial questions are cast- 
ing about for some substitute for the present out- 
standing circulation, which has now dwindled to 
about $150,000,000. Mr. Edward Atkinson, of 
Boston, the well-known statistician and economist, 
presents this novel suggestion : 

" Will any Congress dare to reduce the revenue 
to such an extent as to leave any considerable 
amount of debt unpaid at the end of the present 
century, whether it be bonded debt or demand 
debt represented by legal tender notes ? I sub- 
mit these as the possible conditions which may 
make it an absolute necessity for the people of 
this country to invent a new instrument of ex- 
change^ to take the place of the legal tender notes 
and of the bank notes secured by United States 



472 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

bon^s, unless the whole circulating medium is 
to consist either of bullion, or of certificates of 
the government backed by bullion, dollar for 
dollar. The tendency of events is to cause the 
withdrawal from circulation of uncovered paper, 
to wit: National Bank notes and legal tender 
notes, leaving only in circulation certificates of 
deposits of gold or silver, backed dollar for dol- 
lar by actual coin, and also gold and silver coin 
in specie. 

" No position could be stronger than this ; but 
the difficulty will arise in the fact that even were 
the annual revenues and expenditures of the 
government equalized, the working of the Sub- 
Treasury Act in dealing with such large sums 
as now constitute the financial transactions of the 
government might seriously interfere with the 
money market at times. Under present con- 
ditions it is becoming apparent that it is impos- 
sible for the government to adjust its transactions 
to the ordinary conditions of the money market ; 
it is also impossible for the government to perform 
the functions of a bank of issue ; the tension is 
now very great, and the conditions cannot pos- 
sibly be continued for any length of time. The 
issue of certificates of deposit of gold or silver 
would not meet the varying conditions of sup- 
ply and demand for instruments of exchange 
or circulating notes, and there will soon be no 
government bonds available as securities for 



BANKS AND BANKING. 473 

bank notes. There is a volume of other securities 
in existence — Railroad, State and City bonds — 
which would form an absolute security for a circu- 
lating medium covered in part only by a reserve 
of actual coin. Can the arrangements be made 
and the authority established for a selection 
among these securities of those which ought to 
be made available to secure the notes which 
might serve as instruments of exchange ? Can 
a central bureau, bank or other form of adminis- 
tration be established by a permissive act, with 
branches in different parts of the country, to 
supply an elastic, safe and suitable paper currency 
convertible into coin on demand, on a separate 
foundation and under a separate administration 
from that under which banks of deposit and dis- 
count may continue to be organized ? " 

The New York banks are naturally the richest 
and most powerful in the country, and New 
York, no doubt, always will be the monetary 
centre of this country. But her absolute domi- 
nancy of the rest of the country, which she held 
for so many years, is passing away. The severest 
blow to New York's banking supremacy perhaps 
was the passage of the law permitting the impor- 
tation of foreign goods in bond direct to interior 
points. Formerly the grain from western fields 
was consigned to New York, and the contract for 
its shipment abroad made there. The New York 
banks were drawn upon for funds, and earned a 



474 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

commission upon every bushel of wlieat tliat went 
out through the Narrows. In like manner, all 
goo^s brought from abroad found a resting-plaee 
there, and the duties were paid in New York, and 
it was New York capital which forwarded them to 
their destination. 

But all that has been changed. The merchant 
in Chicago or St. Louis now buys his goods in 
Manchester or Paris and consigns them direct to 
his own city. The West reaches out over New 
York's head and helps herself to whatever she 
wants in the Old World. So, too, with what she 
has to sell in Europe. A single rate is made 
from the western prairie to the dock at Liverpool. 
Wheat is rushed through without the inter- 
vention of any New York factor. As new towns 
and cities have sprung up in the interior, and 
new manufacturing centres have been established, 
and the mineral wealth of the country has been 
developed, the West has grown rich, and many 
of the banks in the interior now carry lines of 
deposit which would have seemed very large to 
the most important institutions in the Bast a few 
years ago. The increase in the number of " re- 
serve cities " made by act of Congress two years 
ago was regarded at the time as destined to 
increase the amount of funds in the western 
banks at the expense of those on the coast. Up 
to that time there were but sixteen " reserv^e 
cities " in the United States. Each of these was 



BANKS AND BANKING. 475 

required to keep on hand at all times, in loanable 
money, twenty-five per cent, of its deposits, while 
every bank outside of these cities was required 
to keep but fifteen per cent, of its deposits on 
hand. Any of these fifteen per cent, banks were 
permitted to keep three-fifths of this fifteen per 
cent, in the banks of any of the sixteen cities 
referr.ed to, and any bank located in the reserve 
cities might keep, if it wished to do so, one-half 
of its loanable money reserved in the city of New 
York. The theory was that New York was the 
monetary centre of the country, and the other 
fifteen cities were the respective centres of the 
sections in which they were located. The law, 
moreover, made provision for counting, as a part 
of the required reserve, a portion of the balance 
which it was supposed the conditions of trade 
would require them to keep at the local centres, 
and at the general centre. 

The new law of 1887 added a number of other 
cities to the list, with regard to reserves which 
New York had held up to that time. The 
amendment, however, left money free to seek its 
natural channels and reservoirs, assuming that 
the drift of the current had changed since the 
passage of the original act. But experience 
since has shown that trade requirements bring a 
large proportion of the reserves to New York, 
and so the new legislation has wrought compara- 
tively little change. The tendency to withdraw 



476 "my country, 'tis of thee." 

funds from New York under the amended law 
has been checked by the fact that as soon as an}- 
city takes on its new dignity of a central reserve 
point, it can no longer keep a portion of its re- 
serve in New York, but must keep its full twenty- 
five per cent, reserve in its own vaults idle. 
Chicago and St. Louis have become full central 
reserve cities like New York, and, as higher in- 
terest rates rule in these cities than in New 
York, it is natural that many accounts should be 
transferred from the latter city ; and this has 
happened, as is demonstrated by Chicago bank 
returns. The drift of currency from New York 
last fall for the purpose of moving the crops, 
demonstrates that, while the western banks hold 
more money for current wants. New York must 
still be drawn upon for the large sums needed to 
move grain and cotton harvests. 

The frequency of paragraphs in the daily 
papers announcing the departure of another 
cashier for Canada demonstrates that there is 
something loose in the methods of banking insti- 
tutions. The president of the bank does not 
give sufficient attention to the actual transaction 
of business. He is usually too familiar and easy- 
going with his cashier and other important offi- 
cials. It is seldom that he emerges from his 
parlor to go behind the counter and see what is 
actually going on. As for the so-called examina- 
tions made from time to time b}?- directors, they 



BANKS AND BANKING. 477 

are iu ninety-nine cases out of every hundred 
simply farcical. The president of the bank tells 
the cashier some fine morning : " Get things 
straightened up now, Jimmy, the directors are 
coming to-morrow, and we want everything in 
good shape." The advent of the directors being 
thus heralded, everything presents a fair ap- 
pearance on the occasion of their visit. They 
chat and chaff each other, glance casually over 
the statements presented by the president, and 
then adjourn to indulge in a luxurious luncheon 
on the floor above. So ends their examination. 

It is because cashiers are relieved from all 
practical surveillance that so many of them are 
led to ultimately test the climate of Canada. A 
broker, speaking to the cashier some fine morn- 
ing, says : " By the way, Jones, Erie is going to 
have a big rise ; you'd better buy yourself a cou- 
ple of hundred." " Oh, I never speculate," says 
Jones; "haven't got the money to do it with." 
" That's all right," says the broker, " I'll buy a 
couple of hundred for you, and if there's any 
loss you can make it good ; but I'm sure you'll 
make money on it." Possibly the cashier ac- 
cedes to this proposition, but more frequently, if 
he be a cautious and circumspect man, he uses 
the broker's point in a different way. He has 
possibly seen the broker grow rich within a few 
years and envies him. Here is a tempting op- 
portunity to make a handsome turn, for his sal- 



478 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

ary is comparatively small, and lie could put a 
few thousand dollars to exceedingly good use. 
It may be, then, that he borrows from a friend, 
or draws upon his own savings for money which 
he secretly deposits as margin with some stock 
firm and buys two hundred Erie. It goes down. 
His margin is exhausted. The brokers tell him 
it will probably decline very little more. But 
they want more margin. Right under his hands 
are big fat packages of bills of large denomina- 
tions. What shall he do ? If his brokers sell 
him out, the savings of years are gone in the 
twinkling of an eye. If he is a weak man, he 
argues, " Why not take a thousand dollar bill out 
of this package marked $50,000 ? It would never 
be missed." Brie is sure to go up to-morrow, 
when he can withdraw the amount from his 
brokers and put it back in the bundle. He will 
be saved from every loss and nobody the worse 
for it. Unfortunately, things do not turn out 
that way. Brie goes lower. The thousand dol- 
lars is gone. What shall he do ? His theft, for 
such it now plainly has become, will probably not 
be discovered for some time. What shall he do? 
Speculate in some other stock and try to make 
up the loss. And he does it. It is useless to 
pursue the theme any further. Grown more 
desperate from day to day, he plunges ; his losses 
become too large to be longer concealed, and one 
day, fearing exposure, he takes to flight, possibly 



BANKS AND BANKING. 479 

carrying off additional funds of tlie bank. It 
may be that the first money he took was not to 
speculate with but to pa}'- some household bill. 
But it leads to the same result in the end. 
»Now, if the president were in the habit of 
casually dropping around to the cashier's desk 
and looking over his cash, the initial step 
in this march to ruin would be prevented. 
Suppose the president picks up hap-hazard au}^ 
one of the many packages of bills and counts 
them over to see that they tally with the total 
marked on the wrapper. The knowledge that he 
is liable to do that at any time will deter the 
cashier from abstracting that first bill, and he is 
saved from the subsequent crime and disgrace. 

Unfortunately, dishonesty in banks is not con- 
fined to cashiers. Many a bank director amasses 
large sums by means which are quite as dis- 
graceful as embezzlements, although they are 
not so harshly punished. Mr. Moneybags, for 
instance, is a director in several large banking 
institutions. He is also in all probability a very 
heavy speculator in the stocks of railroads in 
which he has inside information. As director of 
bank No. i he sees that a certain man has 
pledged a block of the stock of a certain corpora- 
tion as collateral security for a heavy loan. As 
director in bank No. 2 he perhaps learns that the 
same man is borrowing largely from that institu- 
tion and Oil another block of the same stock. It 



480 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE.'' 

is clear that the speculator in question is very 
heavily loaded — probably carrying more of that 
stock than is prudent. Anything which would 
seriously depreciate the market value of th-at 
stock would probably force him to throw over- 
board a considerable portion of his holdings. 
The director of easy conscience quietly puts out 
a line of shorts in the stock in question at the 
ruling high prices. At the next directors' meet- 
ing of bank No. i he tells his fellow-directors 
that he hears rumors affecting Mr. Speculator's 
credit, that he is overloaded with the stock of the 
road in question, and suggests to the president 
that it would be prudent to invite Mr. Speculator 
to return the money he had borrowed and take 
away his stocks. Possibly he causes similar ac- 
tion to be taken by the other bank of which he 
is a director. Mr. Speculator, so unexpectedly 
called upon to return very large sums of money, 
is embarrassed. He is obliged to go into the 
market and sell a large amount of the stock in 
question. The price falls sharply in consequence 
and the director covers his shorts at a handsome 
profit. It is doubtless true that a majority of 
bank directors are above this sort of thing ; but 
there are bank directors, and not a few of them 
either, who contrive to turn their official positions 
to their personal profit. 



CHAPTER XX. 

OUR CITIES. 

A GREAT city is a great sore — a sore which 
never can be cured... 

The greater the city, the greater the sore. 

It necessarily follows that New York, being 
the greatest city in the Union, is the vilest sore 
on our body politic. 

If any one doubts it, let him live in New York 
awhile and keep his eyes and ears open. 

The trouble about great cities is not that they 
have any impetus or influence especially their 
own, but that every one, from the vilest all the 
way up to the best, is compelled by circum- 
stances of city life to often conduct his own daily 
walk and conversation on lines which are not 
entirely natural, and which never can be made so. 

It would be useless to deny that in every large 
city may be found a number of the best men and 
women that humanity has been able to evolve. 
In the great cities are found many of our wisest 
statesmen, our greatest theologians, our best 
business men, and a host of lesser, but perhaps 
not less important individuals, whose influence 

31 481 



482 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

for good upou the world is known and recognized 
everywliere. Nevertheless, these are exceptions 
to the rule. They are not what they are because 
of the city ; they are in the city simply because 
it gives them a better centre and starting-place 
for whatever woik may be incumbent upon them. 

The first deadening influence of the city is that 
no one knows any one else. Of course every one 
has some acquaintances, and some people are 
said to be in the best society and to know every- 
body, but " everybody " is a relative term, and it 
never means as much in the largest city as it 
does in a village of a thousand people. The 
postman knows everybody by name, and so does 
the tax-collector and the man who brings you 
your gas bill, but individual acquaintance — the 
touch of elbow — the touch of nature that makes 
the world akin, must not be looked for in any 
large city in the Union, least of all in New York, 
which in spite of two hundred and fifty years of 
existence, is still so new comparatively that al- 
most all of its prominent citizens were born 
somewhere else. The names of prominent 
Americans who reside in New York will natu- 
rally occur to any one, yet it is quite safe to say 
that not one of these gentlemen know by sight 
and name, - let alone by personal acquaintance, 
more than one person in five who reside within 
a two-minute walk of his house. 

An ex-cabinet officer, a gentleman whose varied 



OUR CITIES. 483 

abilities have made him known throughout the 
civilized world, was once asked who was his 
neighbor on the right. The houses of the two 
men touched each other, as two houses must, in 
the city of New York, but the wise and largely 
acquainted gentleman was obliged to say that he 
did not know. When the questioner informed 
him that the person occupying the adjoining 
house was a notorious thief for whom the police 
had been long in search, he was astonished and 
shocked. Nevertheless, when he a few months 
afterward had his house robbed and drove about 
violently in a cab in search of the police captain 
of his precinct, it took him an hour to discover 
that the said police official resided next door to 
him on the left. Afterward he M^as teased about 
his lack of knowledge of his neighbors, and he 
admitted frankly that, although he was a man 
without " airs," and had always made it a custom 
to fraternize freely with his fellow-men, he knew 
but two individuals who resided on the same 
block with himself, and one of these was his own 
grocer, who occupied a store on the corner. 

" If this is so with the green tree, what must 
it be with the dry ? " Men whose sole business 
is to earn their daily living are glad to find a de- 
cent roof over their heads anywhere in a large 
city and drop into the best place they can find, 
regardless of who may be their neighbors, and 
utterly unable to devote any time to their neigh- 



484 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

Dors, even should tliey be fortunate enougli to 
become acquainted with them. Neighborhood 
feeling and sentiment, which is of incalculable 
benefit in all communities not thickly settled, 
has no influence whatever in a large city. A 
man may not only live in a house between two 
people of whom he knows nothing, but the great 
value of ground in the city of New York and the 
limited area has compelled the erection of a 
number of buildings known as " flat " and 
" apartment " and " tenement " houses, and very 
few men know the people who live under the 
same roof with themselves. 

An amusing story is told of a couple of editors, 
who were questioned about each other and each 
replied that he had not the honor of the other's 
acquaintance. The answer seemed to puzzle 
those who heard it, and the subsequent remarks 
elicited a demand for an explanation, when it was 
learned that these two men, members of the same 
profession, and both entirely reputable citizens, 
had been residing in the same building for six 
months ; but as one was at home only by day- 
light, and the other only at night, they had 
never chanced to meet under their own roof 

Of course, if such ignorance may come in the 
ordinary course of events regarding entirely re- 
spectable people, cities must form an admirable 
hiding-place for disreputable and dangerous 
characters of all sorts. The time was when a 



OUR CITIES. 485 

iiian detected in crime thouglit it advisable to run 
away from a large city. But nowadays lie knows 
better. He stays as near liome as possible, know- 
ing that there are numberless opportunities for 
keeping himself entirely out of sight and out of 
mind of every one who ever knew him. De- 
faulters who have a great deal of money in their 
pockets, and also those who have none at all, oc- 
casionally find it desirable to go to Canada or 
Europe, but the rogue who has two or three 
thousand dollars to spare knows perfectly well 
that by keeping in-doors in New York he can ab- 
solutely escape detection. The police may know 
him by sight, but the keepers of boarding-houses 
do not, neither do their servants ; and so long as 
he will remain in his room, have his meals sent 
to him, and take his exercise and outings only 
after dark in such disguise as any one can im- 
provise at very short notice, he is entirely safe 
from detection. One of the bank defaulters who 
ranks as one of the most successful in the annals 
of such crime in the city of New York, was looked 
for in Canada and all over Europe for eight 
months, and finally by accident was discovered in 
a boarding-house only two squares away from his 
original place of residence. 

Criminals w^hen not actually pl3ang their vo- 
cation generally go to large cities, for two rea- 
sons ; first, to spend their ill-gotten gains in pleas- 



48G- '* MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

ure, and secondly, that as a rule cities are the 
best hiding-places. 

For the same reason that causes desperate 
criminals to hide in the larger cities, all persons 
who have in their lives any features which they 
wish to conceal, find the cities preferable places 
of residence. One man of large propert}^ and 
some national prominence died a few years ago in 
the city in which he had been doing business for 
thirty years, and after he died it was discovered 
that he had nine wives living, from no one of 
whom had he ever separated through the for- 
mality of a divorce. Each of these nine women 
imagined herself his own and only wife. Any 
man, who has formed an undesirable alliance in 
business or in love or otherwise, knows that with 
very little trouble he can hide all traces of his 
mischief by going to a large city to live. 

An inevitable consequence is that the number 
of able but undesirable characters who exist in 
the cities, having left other places for the good 
of those who are left behind, have a depressing 
influence upon the moral atmosphere of other 
classes of residents. Men meet men whom they 
never saw before, and whom they are obliged to 
judge entirely by appearance and professions. 
It is the same in business as it is in society. 
Not a year passes in which some adventurer does 
not impose himself for a time upon the best 
society of New York and of other cities, And 



OUR CITIES. 487 

altHougli it would seem that his antecedents 
might easily be discovered upon the basis of such 
information as he may feel obliged to give about 
himself, the fact remains that society is " taken 
in " quite as often as banks and business men 
and private individuals. Several years ago a 
notorious scamp, who had been in several State- 
prisons, came to New York, organized a business 
firm, took a large store, was discovered in the 
course of time to be carrying on operations closely 
akin to stealing, and when his record was thor- 
oughly searched and sifted by the police, it was 
discovered that his victims were principally the 
largest wholesale establishments in the city of 
New York — establishments which employed a 
number of men for the sole purpose of investi- 
gating the character and resources of any one 
applying to them for credit or for any business 
relations be3''ond ordinary purchases for cash. 

These smart scamps, who are a hundred times 
as numerous as the newspaper disclosures would 
lead the public to imagine, have a terribly de- 
moralizing influence upon the 3^oung men who 
flock to the city from all parts of the rural dis- 
tricts as well as upon those who are brought up 
in the city. To see a rascal succeed has a bad 
effect upon any one. Even the most righteous 
man will mournfully quote from Scripture that 
" the wicked shall flourish as the green bay 
tree;" that "their eyes stand out with fatness; 



488 " MY COUNTRY, 'tis OF THEt:." ' 

they have more than heart can wish," where the 
respectable man has to lie awake nights to devise 
ways and means of paying his coal-bill and 
avoiding trouble with his landlord. Business 
enterprises containing any amount of promise 
are organized, forced upon the public by smart 
schemers of whom no one knows anything, and 
all of them succeed in obtaining a great deal of 
money. When discovery comes, as of course it 
must come sooner or later, the villain never 
makes restitution to any extent and is never ade- 
quately punished for his crime. So, the citizen 
who pretends to be respectable, but always has an 
eye out for the main chance, is moved by such 
examples to see whether he cannot do something 
sharp himself, and get away before the crash 
comes. 

Society in large cities is said to be exclusive. 
It must be, for its own protection. It cannot 
possibly be too exclusive. People with and with- 
out letters of introduction succeed in forming 
acquaintances, becoming part of one or another 
social set, even get into the churches, open bank 
accounts, go into business, and a year or two 
aftenvard are discovered to have antecedents 
which would make a person of ordinary respecta- 
bility hold up his hands in horror. Such occur- 
rences have been so common, and the individuals 
concerned have so often been not only men but 
womefl) that the exclusiveness of city society 



OUR CITIES. 489 

extends even to the churches and school-rooms. 
The half-grown child attending a public or pri- 
vate school is warned against making any ac- 
quaintances whatever except with the children 
of families whom its parents alread}^ know. The 
member of a church may have a stranger shown 
into his pew again and again on Sundays, and 
extend to him the courtesy of an open prayer- 
book or hymnal, but in self-defence he is com- 
pelled to stop at that. The cordiality, freedom 
of speech, and general recognition, which is the 
custom in small towns and in rural districts 
throughout the world, is denied the prudent in- 
habitant of a city, no matter how hearty his 
inclination may be to extend a welcoming hand 
to every one whom he may meet. Young men 
entering society, young women seen for the first 
time in some social circle, are at first regarded 
very much as a stranger entering a mining town 
in the West, where it is supposed no one goes 
unless he has good reason to get away from his 
original home. 

Nowhere in the world are there more charitable 
hearts with plenty of money behind them than 
in large cities, yet nowhere else is there more 
suffering. Your next-door neighbor may be 
starving to death and you not know anything 
about it. You know nothing of his comings and 
nothing of his goings ; he knows nothing of you, 
and if he has any spirit whatever, and any 



4110 '' I\IY COUNTRY, 'tis OF TIIKH." 

respect for himself, he would rather apply to the 
police or to the authorities iu charge of the poor 
than to the people living nearest to him. When- 
ever the newspapers of a city make some startling 
disclosure of destitution and suffering a number 
of purses open instantly, and frequently some of 
the sufferers have received gifts from their own 
landlords, who actually did not know of the name 
and existence of the tenant. A judge of the 
Supreme Court of the city of New York has long 
been known as a frequent and prompt visitor in 
person to all individuals reported as in destitute 
condition and deserving of immediate assistance, 
yet he said once to his own pastor, and to his 
own physician also, who chanced to be present, 
that the great sorrow of his life was, that he was 
utterly incapacitated by the conditions of city life 
from discovering for himself the whereabouts of 
individuals whom he would gladly assist with his 
pocket and his counsel. 

As nobody knows anybody in the large cities, 
what is called the floating population have every- 
thing their own way, each one for himself Busi- 
ness wrongs that would not be tolerated for an 
instant in a smaller communit}^ are perpetrated 
with entire impunity in the large cities. The 
poorer classes have no strong friend or acquaint- 
ance to complain to. Were they in a smaller 
place they would know some one ; probably they 
would know everybody of any consequence, and 



OUR CITIES. ^^91 



also ^e known, and could quickly bring public 
sentiment to their aid, but in a large city tliere 
is no such opportunity. The only hope of the 
oppressed is in the courts, which always are over- 
crowded with business, and can give very little 
time to any one, and in the press, which is also 
overcrowded with work, and should not be charged 
with this sort of responsibility. 

Temptation will exist wherever humanity is 
found, but for a concentration of all temptations, 
graded to suit all capacities of human weakness, 
the great city standa pre-eminent. There is no 
vice that cannot be committed in it— committed 
with reasonable assurance that it will not be dis- 
covered. A man whose habits are apparently 
correct, who has no known vices, whose daily 
manner with his fellow-men seems all that it 
should be, may with entire safety change his 
manner at night, and re-enact the drama of Dr. 
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. It is worse than that. 
He not only may, but in a great many instances 
he does. Any man whose business compels him 
to know a number of persons by sight, and whose 
hours of duty keep him out-of-doors in the " wee 
snia' hours," occasionally sees things which stag- 
ger him. He sees citizens of good repute in 
company which any village loafer would be 
ashamed to be seen in by his own acquaintances. 
He sees policemen taking charge of men who by 
daylight the police of their own locality regard 



492 *' MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OK THEE." 

with extreme respect. He sees the high and the 
low mingle on the same level, and from their 
manners he would not be able to know one from 
the other. Newspapers are sometimes blamed 
for publishing sensational stories, which reminds 
me of a remark once made by the famous Parson 
Brownlow, of Bast Tennessee. He was called 
to account one day for using profane language, 
he being a minister of the gospel. "If you 
knew," said he, " how many cuss words I hold 
in, you would not blame me for the few I let 
out." If the newspapers were to print all the 
sensational stories which come to them they 
would have to double the size of their sheets, and 
still they would have no room for any decent 
news whatever. 

I repeat it, great cities are great sores, and it 
is to the interest of every one that they should 
in some way be extracted from the body politic 
and be allowed and compelled to maintain a sep- 
arate existence. I know that the parallel is not 
exact, but such things have been done in some 
cases. The city is a millstone about the neck of 
the State in almost all cases. Whatever may be 
the political preference of the reader, he must ad- 
mit the fact that the single city of New York po- 
litically dominates the State, although containing 
only about one-fourth of the population, and that 
the expressed will and intention of a large major- 
ity of the voters of the State outside the raetrop- 



OUR CITIES. 493 

olis is steadily neutralized by a great majority 
composed principally of ignorant persons who in- 
fest a great city. The evil has impressed itself 
strongly upon the minds of publicists and jour- 
nalists of all degrees to such an extent that the 
suggestion has often been made that the city 
should be allowed a separate organization by and 
in itself, somewhat analogous to the position 
once held by the free cities of Germany. In 
such case, whatever may be the ultimate political 
results, the fact would remain that each portion 
of the divided community would have its own 
will distinctly expressed, whereas at present one 
neutralizes the other. New York has been mak- 
ing the attempt for years by a series of special 
governments by commission, the origin being in 
special enactments by the legislature at Albany. 
The results have not been successful, but the 
trouble was not lack of principle in the enact- 
ments, but in the individuals selected to carry on 
the experiment. The suggestion however con- 
tinues to be made. Similar plans have been men- 
tioned regarding some other large cities of the 
United States. And it is not impossible that all 
of them may be granted " home rule " in the 
strictest sense, and that the States at large will 
thus escape the city rule to which at present 
they are being subjected. 



494 " MV COUNTRY, ViS OF THEE " 

THE DARKER SIDE. 

What already has been said about the evils of 
city life and influence may seem bad enough, but 
there is another side that is worse. Crime and 
license affect the human mind strongly when 
brought before it as the cause of a large amount 
of irregularity, but the public heart is more 
quickly and firmly impressed by the knowledge 
of suffering. 

The amount of suffering that exists in all 
large cities merely through enforced conditions 
of life passes power of expression. No one has 
ever- yet been able to do the subject justice. 
Many who have worked among the poor have 
lost life and hope, and mind itself, in contempla- 
tion of the suffering and sorrow which they have 
witnessed and been unable to relieve. To attempt 
to care for the poor of a large city affects one very 
much like an effort to pour water into a sieve ; 
the demand is continual, yet nothing seems to be 
effected. 

Almost everywhere outside of the cities it is 
assumed at the beginning that those who suffer 
through their poverty in large cities are either 
indolent or vicious. A more cruel mistake could 
not possibly be made. There are many idlers in 
any large city, as a matter of course, but the 
great majority of the people work hard to keep 
soul and body together. The largest gathering 



OUR CITIES. 495 

of filers tnat any occurrence can bring togethe? 
does not equal in numbers the procession which 
one may see in five minutes' time on any thor- 
oughfare during regular hours of going to work 
or returning home. 

A full half of the population of the largest 
city in the Union reside in tenement houses. 
The tenement house at best is unfit for human 
residence if the people who inhabit it expect to 
enjoy good health, and if the children who are 
part of almost every family are expected to grow 
and develop properly in body and soul. Yet the 
bald fact is that more than half a million of the 
inhabitants of this country live on several square 
miles of land in one single city. Land is costly, 
builders' work is expensive; the cheapest-built 
houses cost a great deal of money, and conse- 
quently the space in them must be divided and 
subdivided with great skill and detail if the 
poorer classes are to find habitation at all. 

Almost all of this half million people are 
honest, hard workers. The heads of families are 
among the first to go to work in the morning and 
among the last to go to their homes at night. 
They are those who work for the smallest wages 
and do the hardest work. They and their families 
need just as much food to support life as any of 
the well-to-do portion of the population. But in 
any large city the necessities of life are costly, 
and they are particularly so in our largest city. 



496 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE.'^ 

The wages of an ordinary mechanic or working- 
man will barely pay the rent of the cheapest 
apartment and bny food for five people. Clothing 
must be left to chance, luxury must be unthought- 
of, and the only possible relaxation is that to be 
found in the streets or at places where entertain- 
ment is free. 

More heroism is displayed in some of these 
humble homes than ever was witnessed on any 
battle-field of which the world has knowledge. 
The wolf at the door is a thousand times worse 
foe than the enemy on the frontier. The soldier 
always has glory to look to in case he dies. The 
suffering laborer dies, if die he must, in abject 
misery at the thought of his family's future. 
Whatever his health, however numerous his dis- 
comforts, however small his pay, he must work 
and go on working, or his family must starve. 
He has no friends who are rich or influential ; 
if he had, he would not be a poor working-man ; 
his only friends are those of his own kind, and 
while almost any of them would in time of neces- 
sity share their last loaf with him, there are times 
when the most friendly of them have no loaf to 
share. A day or two of sickness of the head of 
the family imposes a stern chase which lasts long 
and costs frightfully. The death of a member 
of their family means absolute ruin. This would 
seem bad enough, but there is worse behind it. 
The necessity of sending the remains of the 



y'-'^A 




i>_ I fTt^, -tan mi^ >'^9R-, 




OtJR CITIES. 497 

]ove(r~one to the burial groiiiia of the paupers is 
one of the terrible experiences which are very 
common in large cities. Some of them cannot 
afford even the small time necessary to do that 
much ; so, with many tears and prayers, perhaps 
sometimes with many curses upon the hard luck 
to which fate or fortune has reduced them, the 
remains are quietly carried to the river-side at 
night and there dropped from sight, though not 
from memory. A few years ago a newspaper at- 
tache, attending one of the large excursions given 
by charitable persons to children of the poor, 
overheard a mother and daughter talking about 
a sick babe which the daughter was to carry on 
board the boat. The mother could not go. She 
had to work or the family must starve. She took 
her child in her arms, again and again kissed it, 
cried over it, and then began a skilful conversa- 
tion with her daughter leading up to the possi- 
bility and advisability, in case of death during 
the trip, of dropping the little darling's remains 
overboard, saying that the deep, clean sea was a 
cleaner burial place than the dark ground in the 
cemetery. The child listened with wondering 
face and finally agreed with her mother. As for 
the reporter, he was so horrified that he was 
utterly unfit for work for a year after, although 
he imagined himself hardened to scenes of suf- 
fering. 

The wildest imagination cannot possibly exceed 

32 



498 " MY COUNTRY, 'tiS OF THEE " 

some actual facts of tenement-house life. The 
story has been told again and again, until there 
is no novelty in it, of families crowded together 
so closely that all the decencies of life were for- 
gotten, because it was impossible to observe them, 
of bad associations formed, of children wilting 
and v/eakening unto death because the air they 
breathed was unfit to support life, of food pur- 
chased at cheaper and cheaper prices until that 
finally used was little better than poison to those 
who ate it, of poverty induced by payments de- 
ferred, of the wretchedness and semi-starvation 
that exist through some of the long strikes of 
some of the laboring classes ; but none of it fully 
equals the truth. There are happy, virtuous, 
well-fed, well-clothed families in tenement houses, 
and it is probably fair to say that these are per- 
haps in the majority, but the minority is so 
numerous that the heart is appalled at contem- 
plating it. Out of their wretched homes these 
people cannot go. There is no other place for 
them. While a man and his wife are young and 
before they have children, they may roam about 
if they choose as tramps in pleasant summer 
weather, until some happy chance finds work for 
one or the other in the rural districts. But once 
anchored in the city by a family of children, and 
the opportunities of the laboring man of small 
income to ever change his condition are almost 
nothing. Some men say that the influence of 



OUR CITIES. 499 

religion is declining. The strongest refutation, 
and an absolute one, of this statement is that the 
miserable people in large cities do not arise in 
frenzied mobs and destroy everything which they 
cannot steal. The long, patient and then de- 
spairing struggle against the inevitable is enough 
to reduce any man to frenzy, were it not, as Long- 
fellow says, that poverty 

"Crushes iuto dumb despair 
One-half the human race." 

It nevertheless is true that as large a propor- 
tion of these people as of any other class in the 
city are religious by instinct, training and prac- 
tice. The churches which they attend are more 
crowded on Sundays than those of the better 
classes, and the painter who wishes to find models 
of patience and resignation and determination can 
find them better at the doors of these churches 
than anywhere else in the world. 

Still the misery goes on. It increases. The 
tenement-house population grows larger and 
larger every year. The accommodations become 
smaller because the tendency of the rents of such 
property is steadily upward. There is no way 
of escape. Little by little the parents of the 
family of young children prevail upon themselves 
to allow children to help support the family. 
There is no cruelty about it in the intention of 
the parents. The children have little enough to 



500 " MY COUNTRY, 'tis OF THEE " 

interest them. Their parents are too busy to talk 
with them or answer any of their questions. 
During the day the children are in the way, and 
to the father and mother comes the suggestion 
that if the entire family were at work together 
there might be a closer family life. The children 
are quite willing to take part in whatever their 
parents are doing. Indeed, it is hard to keep 
them from doing so. So the transition for chil- 
dren from utter indolence to child labor is very 
short and easy. 

There are a great many businesses in a large 
city in which children may help their parents. 
Among these, the most prominent probably will 
be found among the clothing manufacturers 
and the makers of that much-abused article, the 
tenement-house cigar. It isn't necessary 'for the 
reader to be frightened at the idea that cigars are 
made in tenement-houses, because a respectable 
man or woman with their children are less likely 
to have any habits or surroundings which will 
make the tobacco leaf deleterious than the work- 
man in any famous factory in Havana. There 
are diseases among the operatives in Cuban 
ciofar factories of which the less said the better. 
Whatever other ailments there may be in tene- 
ment-house life, these particular diseases are not 
to be found there. Nevertheless the idea of a 
man and woman and several children working 
ten or twelve or fourteen hours a day in a room 



OUR CITIKS. 501 

ten teet square with a lot of decaying vegetable 
matter — wliicli is exactly what leaf tobacco in the 
course of manufacture really is~to pollute the 
atmosphere about them, is not a pleasant thing. 
Tobacco has powerful medicinal qualities, most 
of which are of a poisonous nature. A small 
amount of nicotine, the essential principle of to- 
bacco, has been powerfull}'^ effective either as a 
narcotic, or stimulant, or a germicide. The effect 
upon persons who handle it incessantly during a 
full half of every day can consequently be imag- 
ined. Every one in the room becomes irritable 
unless the food supply is abundant and care- 
fully selected; every one finally becomes ex- 
tremely nervous. Men and women do not well 
endure the life of tobacco manufacturers. To 
children the constant handling of the leaf is 
frequently poisonous. Nevertheless, a certain 
amount of money ought to be earned every day 
b}^ the family ; the father and mother are not 
able to do it ; the children help ; the family earn- 
ings are as much for the child's sake as for the 
parents, and so the work goes on. 

In the manufacture of clothing the details, so 
far as they affect human life, are not so injurious. 
But one commercial result is always perceptible 
in a short time. Those operatives who can avail 
themselves of child labor are enabled to underbid 
their associates, who are also their competitors. 
Consequently it is a very short time before the 



O02 MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OK THEE." 

income of the family is no larger than it already- 
had been, while the number of persons occupied 
in earning it has doubled and perhaps trebled. 

Just think a moment what all this really im- 
plies. A number of people are excluded from 
all possibility of exercise or recreation and excit- 
ing themselves to the utmost to accomplish a 
given amount of work in a specified time. Chil- 
dren are quicker than grown people to respond 
to any exciting influence, and the most enthusi- 
astic workers in tenement-house rooms will 
always be found to be the children. Sometimes 
this amuses the parents, occasionally it interests 
them, but more often it is extremely pathetic. 
To see a child at an early age absorbed in the 
details of the battle of life would horrify any one 
of us, yet 100,000 children of this kind can be 
found in the city of New York, and a large num- 
ber of them can be found in any one of forty 
or fifty specified blocks. 

There is only one end to this sort of thing. 
Persistent stimulation and entire lack of recrea- 
tion or exercise must have a debasing and dan- 
gerous effect upon any physique. Much more 
must this be the case regarding children. Boys 
and girls are not driven to work as they were in 
England forty or fifty years ago. They are not 
flogged if they do not accomplish a certain 
amount of work in a given time, as they used to 
be under the good old English customs. But they 



OUR CiTlKvS. 50S 

are just as thoroughly destroyed, physically and 
mentally, as if they were under task-masters 
who were not their own parents. 

Children in the country frequently work very 
hard. A farmer's life is hard at best, and be- 
tween necessity and sympathy his children early 
learn to take part in their father's endeavors. 
They rise early in the morning and work per- 
haps quite late in the night, but they are in 
pure air even while they are at work. They 
have an abundance of food and they always see 
something before them, just as their parents do. 
Perhaps it is that there is a war abroad and the 
price of wheat will probably go up a few cents 
a bushel. Or a railroad is coming in the vicinity 
of the farm, and acres which have been devoted 
to common crops and pasture are expected sud- 
denly to attain to the dignity of town lots. 
There are evening festivities in which all the 
children take part, and there is also the great 
and comforting and uplifting American senti- 
ment that each one of them is as good as any 
one of their richest neighbors, and the fact that 
they may live in a poorly-built house and not 
wear quite as good clothes on Sunday as some 
of their associates can always be overlooked 
in view of the possibilities of the near future. 
But before, the children of the poor in the large 
cities there is no prospect whatever of advance- 
ment or pleasure or recreation. The old dull 



504 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

grind goes on day by day. While every one is 
well and every one is at work, the family probably 
has enough to eat and has a roof over its head ; 
and to that extent it can congratulate itself, 
for some of their acquaintances and neighbors 
are not so well off. But the first day that 
sickness comes into the family the entire aspect 
of things changes. The work must go on or 
there will be nothing to live on at the end of 
the week. The invalid may be put to bed in 
one of the little closets which are dignified by 
the name of rooms, but the adult members of 
the family must continue to work, and so must 
all who are old enough to assist. If there is 
a sewing-machine in the room it must go on 
clicking, no matter if some member of the famil}^ 
is dying. There is no lack of sympath}-, no 
lack of affection, no lack of longing; but all 
these put together do not take the place of proper 
medical attendance, pure air and good food. If 
in any single town of the United States the death 
rate were as large as it is in the city of New 
York, the best citizens would pack up their things 
and run away, no matter at what cost. But 
New York can lose thirty or forty of every 
thousand of its inhabitants every year, and the 
only comment of those who know best about it 
is that it is a mercy of heaven that the loss is no 
greater. 

The customary way of city people, in avoiding 



OUR ciTiKS. 505 

responsibility and deep tliought on this subject, 
consists in saying that the people who live in 
this way are of low organizations any way, and 
that they can exist and flourish and grow fat 
amid surroundings which would kill any decent 
person. There is some truth in this so far as 
certain low organizations are concerned. Unfor- 
tunately, however, there is no race, sex, nation- 
ality or creed among the very poor in the large 
city. All of them are people who either were 
born very poor or who, having been reduced to 
povert}/-, are endeavoring to make the best of their 
lot. There are Americans of good name and 
good family now serving in the commoner me- 
chanical capacities in the city of New York, and 
only a little w^hile ago it was discovered that the 
wife of a gallant Major-General, who served the 
United States faithfully during the late unpleas- 
antness, was " living out " as a domestic servant. 
It is not a result of poverty, misfortune, sickness 
or anything of the kind. All those horrors are 
the results, first of all, of city life, of living 
where no one knows his own neighbors and where 
the person who falls into embarrassments or is 
overwhelmed by misfortune has no one to whom 
to turn, and takes to anything at short notice and 
in utter desperation, to keep the wolf from the 
door. 

Cities should be suppressed, but that is impos- 
sible. They should be properly policed by per- 



50o " UY COUNTRY, 'TIS Ol'^ Till-;!':," 

sons competeut to discover and report those most 
in need of assistance ; but that also seems im- 
possible. The only chance left seems to be that 
the larger the city the greater shall be the mis- 
sionary work done in it by all denominations. 
When Jesus was alive and was anxious to secure 
the attention of the people, he did not bemoan 
their sad condition, but on one occasion, when 
some thousands of them followed him, he him- 
self supplied them with food. The servant is 
not greater than the master, and religious people, 
regardless of differences of creed, can find no 
better work in large cities than to search out the 
needy and endeavor to lift their feet out of the 
mire and put them in a dry place, to quote from 
the inspired psalmist in one of his most eloquent 
passages. 

One good and pressing reason — though a 
selfish one — for closer and more sympathetic 
attention to the poor of large cities, is that the 
great mass of criminals come from the poorer 
classes, and that when criminals are once made 
it is hard to unmake them. The famous Inspec- 
tor Byrne, of New York, the man most feared 
by wrongdoers everywhere, spends annually a 
great deal of his hard-earned money in trying to 
persuade criminals not to drop back into their 
old wa3\s, but he believes that he only retards 
their return to crime — not that he effects any 
reformations. The following words from a man 



OUR CITIES. 507 

of his stern experience and sympathetic nature 
are terrible in their warning against neglect of 
the class from which most criminals spring : 

" My personal opinion is that it is utterly im- 
possible to reform criminals. There are certain 
fancy measures pursued in this city for the 
reformation of criminals, but they are all bosh ; 
they do not reform the outlaws. To some extent 
such efforts are made for the purpose of public 
notoriety. I know people in this city who claim 
that they want to reform thieves. They get 
hold of notorious scoundrels when they come out 
of state-prison, and so long as the thief is a good 
' star-actor,' and goes from place to place and 
tells all sorts of things that are villanous and 
bad about himself (no matter whether they be 
lies or the truth), he is lauded around by these 
people as a great attraction. The moment he 
discontinues that kind of performance they 
throw him out in the street because he is of no 
use to them ; he doesn't ' draw.' 

" So far as the efforts of religious people are 
concerned in this matter of criminal reformation, 
I say that their efforts are laudable. They cer- 
tainly mean well. They devote time and money 
to the work ; but they have no practical experi- 
ence with criminals, and their efforts count for 
very little. It is sometimes claimed that, under 
the influence of prayers and preaching, the crim- 
inal's heart is touched, he sees the error of his 



508 '' MY COUNTRY, 'tis OF THEE." 

ways, he is converted ; I do not believe it. As 
the word ' reformation ' is ordinarily used, I 
know there is no such experience among 

thieves." 

< 

It will not do to dispose of the subject by 
saying that there must be criminals in the world, 
and that we pay policemen to take care of them. 
No police force can entirely suppress crime ; there 
are too many evil-doers to be watched, and each 
has his own style. Inspector Williams, of New 
York, an officer almost as widely known as 
Inspector Byrne, and who has had charge of the 
most dangerous precincts in the city, wrote re- 
cently : 

" The general public, who look upon criminals 
as a class by themselves, are apt to think that 
one criminal is very much like another. This is 
not a fact. I have been a policeman for nearly a 
quarter of a century, and I have never seen two 
criminals who were very nearly alike in charac- 
ter. A Siamese-twinship in the annals of crime 
is unknown. When we enter the criminal 
world and seek to deal with its members from 
any point of view, we must look upon them indi- 
vidually, not collectively." 

All of which means that the only way to 
lessen the number of criminals is to see to it that 
wretchedness of the masses of population in our 
large cities shall not be allowed to send new 
recruits to the ranks. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

REUGION. 

Ours is tlie most religious country on the face 
of the earth. There are more churches to the 
square mile of city and village area than any 
other part of the world, not excepting the grand 
old city of Rome. They may not be all of the 
same denomination, but their attendants worship 
the same God. They may quarrel a great deal 
about points of faith, but on essentials they are, 
if not exactly one, so closely related that there.is 
room for any amount of hope. About baptism 
and regeneration and sanctification and adoption 
and perhaps damnation they may differ fright- 
fully ; but all of them base their belief upon the 
Apostles' Creed, and look for their spiritual in- 
spiration to the law of the Old and New Testa- 
ment, preferably that of the four gospels. 

Religion is a life, whatever else it may or may 
not be. No person who makes any pretence of 
being religious declines to admit that his creed is 
the basis of the life which he would like to lead, 
whether or not he may succeed in making his 
practice conform to his principles. * • 

509 



510 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

That religion consists in proper life with a 
view to a life to come, or at least that it is so re- 
garded, is proved by the custom which becomes 
more and more prevalent of judging men and 
women according to their religious professions. 

There was a time when, if a man assented to 
a given form of faith, his life might be almost 
anything he pleased ; and some of the most ac- 
tive " Defenders of the Faith," as they styled 
themselves, whether they were Catholics, Prot- 
estants, Trinitarians or Unitarians, have been 
found among men who would nowadays not be 
considered fit to introduce into respectable society. 
The time when such things were has departed, 
and shows not the faintest sign of ever returning 
again. To-day a man's religious profession is re- 
garded as an assertion by himself of what he 
would have his life, and what he proposes that 
his life shall be judged by. 

A cheering sign of the earnestness and sin- 
cerity of religion in modern times is that there 
is very little proselyting now. People who smile 
cheerfully at one another during six days of the 
week, do not glare and frown at one another on 
Sunday, as they used to do when meeting on 
their ways to their respective churches, and from 
the manners of members of different denomina- 
tions meeting in business or polite society, no one 
could imagine or discern to what particular creed 
any one 6f those people subscribed. The Meth- 



RELIGION. 511 

oclist, the Baptist, the Catholic, the Episcopalian, 
meet each other cheerily in business and in so- 
ciet}^, their families intermarry, they have busi- 
ness relations with each other, and no one in in- 
dorsing or cashing a business ftian's note ever 
thinks of asking to what particular church he 
may belong. 

In a number of country towns this fraternal 
feeling has been largely stimulated and strength- 
ened by what are called " union meetings," in 
which all the members of all the congregations 
in the town unite at appointed dates in general 
services of prayer and worship. Occasionally 
the pastor of some church in the vicinity may 
object to taking part in such services, but pastors 
in congregations are frequently like Congressmen 
and the people — the followers are ahead of the 
leader. Only a little while ago a Catholic priest 
of high repute in his own denomination, and held 
in high esteem by the entire community in which 
he was known, ascended the platform at a west- 
ern camp-meeting, in which denominations differ- 
ing from his own had united, and made a most 
earnest undenominational and spiritual address 
to the entire audience before him. 

Revival meetings, however they may be laughed 
at by the more refined and fastidious of church 
people, have had the effect in late years of at- 
tracting a great many thousands of people toward 
religious life. The most noted of these were 



512 " MY COUNTRY, 'tis OF THEK.'' 

conducted, as every one knows, by Messrs. 
Moody and Sankey, two men who were never 
regularly ordained as clergymen by any author- 
ity whatever — they are simple laymen and un- 
denominationaf workers. Yet these men never 
went to any city or town to begin their peculiar 
system of work until all, or nearly all, the pas- 
tors of churches had united in calling them and 
had promised to assist to the best of their ability. 
No effort was made by these men to make con- 
verts for any denomination whatever. Their 
sole purpose was to cause men and women to 
change their manner of life from that of the or- 
dinary every-day selfishness of the unregenerate 
man and to compel him to recognize an over-rul- 
ing Providence who should also be the guide of 
his daily life in every respect. Mr. Moody, 
however " shaky " he may have been according 
to any theological test, was earnest and sincere 
enough to say to all the clerical fraternity of any 
town in which he worked, that he came only to 
sow seed and that it was the business of others 
to reap the harvest, and that he cared not into 
whose flock the lambs were led, so long as they 
were rescued from the wilderness. The Moody 
and Sankey movement is open to a great deal of 
criticism, and probably no one has regarded it 
with more jealous eye than newspaper editors, 
yet the editorial fraternity throughout the coun- 
try has been compelled to admit that the agita- 



kKUGJON. Olo 

tion begun by tbese men bad a marked influence 
for good on whatever community it was exerted. 

Such a movement would have been utterly im- 
possible fifty years ago, perhaps twenty-five years 
ago. To attempt to lead men to God without 
outlining a road which traversed a great many 
other roads said to lead in the same direction 
would have united against the leader all the 
churches in the vicinity. 

There are no fights between denominations 
now-a-days. A church may fight within its own 
borders as furiously as a gang of worried dogs, 
but for the occupants of several different pulpits 
in any given town or in any portion of a great 
city to call each other bad names and intimate 
that the followers of any one but the speaker 
would find themselves after death in a most un- 
comfortable and irremediable condition of soul 
and body is no longer the case. The principal 
feeling now excited by large success in any par- 
ticular congregation is one of emulation. If one 
church holds a successful mission or revival 
meeting or series of special efforts, and succeeds 
in persuading a number of people to enroll them- 
selves formally among any band of persons pro- 
fessing to be Christians, the only competitive 
result that can be seen or heard of is an effort 
of the neighboring churches to go and do like- 
wise. 

Why, it is no longer necessary for churches to 

33 



514 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

be built solely by those who are members of the 
congregation which is endeavoring to erect the 
edifice. A subscription for the building fund of 
a church of any denomination is passed around 
among people of all faiths and no faith, and 
money is subscribed as freely and as unreservedly 
as if the effort was being made simply for the 
relief of some individual in embarrassment. It 
has come to be considered in the United States 
that a church, no matter of what denomination, 
is a good thing to have in the neighborhood, and 
the more churches the better. Any man of pub- 
lic spirit or Christian feeling who has any money 
to spare can be depended upon to subscribe to the 
erection of a church of any denomination, the 
Mormon church always excepted. 

All this is immensely encouraging to men who 
regard religion as the greatest moral influence of 
life, as well as a promise of things less seen yet 
more important in which the majority of people 
believe more or less blindly. The change has 
come about through the different pulpit method 
that has come in vogue within a very few years. 
Men have learned to look upon religion of any 
kind as infinitely preferable to no religion at all. 
No man who keeps his eyes open has failed to 
see changes, such as can be accounted for by no 
other theory, as to the possibilities of human 
nature, suddenly and quietly achieved through 
the practice of religious life as indicated by some 



RELIGION. 515 

particular creed. So far as changes in the lives 
of individuals are concerned, creed seems to make 
very little difference. Within the lines of all 
denominations men can be found who, according 
to every rule and precedent of human nature, 
should be dishonest, indolent, vile, and brutal, 
yet who have suddenly become respectable and 
in all things visible entirely decent. Any at- 
tempts to break down religion, as such, are stoutly 
combated by the entire intelligent portion of the 
community, barring the few dilettanti who are 
not certain about anything, and least of all about 
whatever will make themselves amenable to the 
moral law. Colonel Bob Ingersoll can draw a 
large crowd in a large city, but never in his life 
has he had as large an audience as can be found 
an}'- Sunday in any one of twenty churches in 
the city of JSFew York, and were he to enter some 
of our smaller towns he would find himself with 
the same proportion of hearers. Most religious 
people who think — and most of them do think — 
have periods of doubt on a great many topics 
which in the earlier portion of their new life 
seemed to them essentials. Nevertheless they 
have learned by experience not to change their 
faith, much less to abandon it, because of some 
things which they do not understand. Since re- 
ligion has become a life instead of a mere belief, 
all men who sincerely practice it have learned 
that there is a great unknown of human expe- 



51^ "my country, *tIvS of thek.'^ 

rience beyond whicli their own lives cannot reacli 
except at certain times and under certain influ- 
ences, and to abandon what they doubt would 
mean to them to also forego the fruits of what 
they already know and believe. 

There is not the slightest fear that the United 
States will become an irreligious nation. Some 
church pews may be empty, some men may go 
very seldom to service, or confession, but that 
most men think and feel the influence of religion 
upon the young and upon the family circle is too 
well known and established to admit of any 
doubt. The heads of families who are most 
careless about their own personal lives are often 
most earnest in urging upon their families all 
the ministrations of whatever churches they may 
chance to attend. It matters no longer from 
what denomination is selected the clergyman who 
shall ask grace at a large public dinner, or open 
a solemn public gathering with prayer, or as to 
what may be the creed of the spiritual teacher 
who may be asked to take part in deliberations 
upon grave moral interests of the community. 

All this is immensely encouraging, and prom- 
ises lasting good to the nation. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

WOMAN AND HER WORK. 

For a whole generation the public has been 
hearing a great deal of woman's rights. Already, 
however, woman has secured one of the greatest 
rights in the world. She has the right to labor 
in any capacity in which men hitherto have been 
employed. 

Some close observers have dignified this change 
by calling it the liberation of woman. But closer 
observers realize that it is also the liberation 
of man. Woman is doing a great deal of work 
which man used to do and which it was supposed 
only man was competent to do, but woman has 
stepped in and done it just as well as man ever 
did, and men, sometimes with thanks and occa- 
sionally with curses, have retired to other kinds 
of labor more fit for strong arms. 

The opinion of men on this subject would 
probably receive no consideration from the gentler 
sex, but a journal recently started specially to 
advance the interests of women, declares that at 
the present time there are over three hundred 
occupations in the United States, aside from 

517 



518 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE " 

housekeeping, in which women find abundant 
and remunerative employment. What woman 
has said, man would be a brute to unsay. 

There has been a decided gain to the world by 
this change, but the greatest gain has been to the 
sex to which the world has been, if not cruel, cer- 
tainly indifferent. Woman has been the slave, 
the plaything, the toy of man so long that it is 
hard to get out of the public mind the idea that 
woman is simply an appendage to the ruder 
being, and that whatever she is or is to have de- 
pends upon the generosity of man. The gen- 
erosity of man is no more to be depended upon 
by the gentler sex than it is by men themselves. 
All men are generous when they are not likely to 
lose anything by it. All men also are selfish, 
and woman would not now have her present 
chance in the United States were it not that men 
saw a gain for themselves in the change. 

Woman may not be getting as much money 
for some kinds of work as man would were he 
doing the same work himself. But the beginning 
counts for a great deal in this world. Everybody 
knows the old saying that the first step is half 
the battle, and woman has taken the first step. 
According to the authority above quoted she has 
taken over three hundred of them, which is more 
than man can say for himself during the same 
period. 

No matter what may be said by the men who 



WOMAN AND HER WORK. 



519 



liave been displaced by women in tbe various de- 
partments of business ; no matter wbat may be 
said by unpardonable gossips about women 
stepping aside from the family circle to do work 
whicli bas no appearance of domesticity about it, 
the truth is that the appearance of women in 
the business world has been of immense ser- 
vice to the gentler sex, and indirectly of great 
benefit to the lords of creation. It is absolutely 
necessary to the civilization of the world that the 
great mass of mankind should realize that woman 
is something better than a mere dependent on 
man, and there is no quicker way of teaching 
this lesson than that of demonstrating that 
woman is quite competent to take care of herself 
if she has a fair chance. 

A fair chance has been offered. It has been 
embraced, and some hundreds of thousands of 
women in the United States are doing for them- 
selves far better than they would have been done 
for by the men into whose power they would have 
fallen under the old custom of making a woman's 
maintenance and existence entirely dependent 
upon the male members of her own family. 

A large department of industry in which wo- 
men are employed, outside of household duties, 
is that of work at the government offices at 
Washington. Irresponsible newspaper para- 
graphers used to write a great many ugly things 
about treasury clerks and pension office clerks 



520 ^' MY COUNTRY, 'TIS 01^ THEE." 

and other feminine employes of tlie government. 
But that sort of writing has gone entirely out of 
practice. Seeing is believing, and the hundreds 
of thousands of American citizens who have 
yearly visited the national capital are satisfied 
from their own observation and still more by their 
personal acquaintance with attaches of the dif- 
ferent departments that woman not only knows 
how to work, but can prolong her efforts and 
maintain regular hours quite as well as any 
man; and, to put it mildly, that she is quite as 
respectable as man. 

Still more important, woman has not yet found 
it necessary to go out to drink. . It is a severer 
joke and comment upon the stronger sex than 
any man yet has been willing to admit that, 
while clerks in all departments of the govern- 
ment service at the national capital may be found 
who deem it necessary to stimulate themselves 
during business hours, women work the cus- 
tomary hours prescribed, do their work well, and 
find no need of artificial stimulation. 

Does this mean that for sixty centuries the 
world has been mistaken as to which of the two 
sexes is the stronger? This is a good conun- 
drum to think over when you have some spare 
time on your hands. 

It has also been reported by the aforesaid irre- 
sponsible paragrapher that w^omen clerks at 
Washington have very little to do, and that the 



WOMAN AND HKR WORK. 621 

work witli wliicli they are charged could be at- 
tended to by men with equal celerity and accu- 
racy ; but the fact seems to be, according to Cabi- 
net officers of half a dozen successive adminis- 
trations, that the men work neither so fast nor so 
well, and cost a great deal more money. 

More money probably will come in time. No 
slave can shake off all his chains at a single 
blow. Old Samson himself, when he had broken 
the manacles that bound him, was still blind and 
had to be led about by the hand. And woman, 
perhaps, may yet need some instruction and 
friendly counsel, but where in a single city a 
great many thousands of the gentler sex are 
performing arduous labor and living up to exact- 
ing restrictions, it is far too late to say anything 
whatever about the incapacity of woman for per- 
sistent labor. 

Reference has been made quite freely in this 
screed to the feminine employes of the govern- 
ment at the national capital, but only because this 
is the most prominent instance and illustration of 
the capacity of women to work. Any observer 
however, can satisfy himself, if he will, on the 
subject by looking through prominent business 
houses in any large city. Where once every 
desk had a man behind it and all the sales-coun- 
ters were lined with masculine salesmen the 
word now in New York and some other cities is 
that no man shall be employed at any v/ork for 



522 "my country, 'tis of thee." 

whlcli a woman can be found. Woman has some 
qualities especially attractive to the management 
of a large business. She never gets drunk, she 
seldom goes into speculation, and still less fre- 
quently does she look around for something else 
to do. Male clerks and salesmen are continually 
on the lookout for something better. They are 
likely to put their savings into Wall street or 
some other gambling den. They expect to make 
a great career in business somewhere, somehow, 
some time; but woman has the superior quality, or 
so it seems to her employer, of being satisfied to 
do well what work she has in hand, and look for 
nothing else. Consequently, marriage is almost 
the only influence that can ever remove her from 
whatever may be her chosen sphere of duty. 

But woman no longer is satisfied to work for 
poor wages. There are in the United States 
thousands of feminine physicians. There are a 
few female lawyers, and indeed two or three pul- 
pits have been satisfactorily filled for a number 
of years by women. Other women can be found 
as principals of large business enterprises. Ev- 
erybody in Wall street knows Mrs. Hetty Green, 
one of the sharpest and most successful specula- 
tors in railroad securities that Wall street ever 
has known. If she has made any losses nobody 
knows of them. On the other side her gains 
may be counted by millions by any broker on the 
street. She and her husband were mutually in- 



WOMAN AND H^,R WORK. 523 

forested in a large railroad enterprise. Her hus- 
band has dropped out of sight. The wife remains, 
and no broker or operator who is not very new at 
the business ever attempts to get the better of 
Mrs. Green. Her fortune has been rolling up 
steadily until it is estimated almost as high as 
that of any but the three most prominent men in 
Wall street, and it continues to roll up. If she 
has any outside advisers, nobody has ever been 
able to discover who they are. Her methods are 
so quiet and straightforward that she mystifies 
the very elect among railroad men. 

The business of editing a newspaper is sup- 
posed to call for at least as high a combination of 
intellectual qualities as that of being President 
of the United States, and there are men who 
imagine that the first-class editor would let him- 
self down were he to accept the Presidency. Yet 
several prominent newspapers in the United 
States are not only edited, but managed in their 
business departments by women. They are not 
those most talked about; nevertheless their stock 
is not in the market, and it seldom changes 
hands. 

Woman is said to be of quicker sensibilities 
than man. No one will doubt it who has seen a 
woman count currency at the Treasury Depart- 
ment at Washington, or handle a type-writing 
machine in an ofiice in a large city. Recently 
there have been some exciting contests between 



524 " UY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEK." 

type-writers, and most of the winners have been 
women. In the city of Cincinnati, which con- 
tains more artistic furniture probably than the 
city of London or Paris, the work has been done 
almost entirely by the eyes and hands of women. 
A few years ago Hood's " Song of the Shirt " 
was quoted as frequently in America as it once 
was in England, but nowadays only the stupidest 
of women, or those caught most suddenly in em- 
barrassments and without any preparation for 
the battle of life, give themselves to the needle. 
Men do that sort of work now. Reduced gentle- 
women who support themselves by sewing still 
exist, but they are not easy to find. Instead of 
making shirts or other cheap clothing at starva- 
tion wages, the woman out of employment nowa- 
days turns herself to some specialty of needle- 
work if she knows no other tool or method, and 
there are " exchanges " at which her work may 
be displayed and at which orders are given ac- 
cording to the samples shown and at prices 
which would astonish the old-time slaves of the 
needle. Women are in all the telegraph offices. 
They are clerks in thousands of business houses. 
They are mechanics, artisans and artists all over 
the country. It has become so ranch the fashion 
for women to work that nowadays there are signs 
in London, Paris and New York of common busi- 
ness enterprises presided over by women with 
titles. The Princess de Sagan, one of the bril- 



WOMAN AND HRR WORK. 525 

liant lights of tlie court of the last Napoleon, 
manages a dress-making establishment in Paris 
and New York. Other ladies, equally illus- 
trious, are well known in trade circles in London 
and on the Continent. 

All this looks strongly like the emancipation 
of women, but it does not at first sight convey its 
full meaning to the observer or reader. The 
most important result of it all is that woman is 
thus made independent of man. A woman of 
brains no longer needs to marry in order to have 
a home. It would be difficult to suggest the pro- 
portion of unhappy marriages which have been 
due to the fact that admirable women have been 
utterly unable to care for themselves in the world, 
and consequently have attached themselves for 
prudential reasons, although by a revered form 
and sacrament, to some man. But no longer is 
this necessary. There are all kinds of women as 
well as all kinds of men in business, but it is far 
safer in society to attempt a romantic flirtation 
with a woman than to make similar attempts in 
any business circles where women are employed. 
There are a great many handsome and spirited 
women in the departments at Washington, but no 
sentimental young man is fool enough to lounge 
about these places with the hope of getting up 
a flirtation.* The woman who knows how to sup- 
port herself is not going to be in haste to marry. 
When she marries she is going to have a hus- 

82 



526 "my country, 'tis of thp:e." 

band, in fact as well as in name, as well as a 
home. Slie can afford to wait. She has entire 
control of her own destiny and she cannot be 
taken at a disadvantage. Instead of marrying 
for a home, the tables have been so turned that 
nowadays a large number of men are on the look- 
out for women who can give them a home. 
Plenty of men can be found who are desirous of 
marrying in order to be supported, instead of 
marrying for the purpose of supporting somebody 
else. 

The gain to woman in this change of affairs 
is simply inestimable. It is unnecessar}'- to 
call any one's attention to the comparative great- 
ness of risk which woman sustains in entering the 
marriage relation now, and the helplessness in 
which she found herself under the old rule, when 
man was the only wage-earner. Women are 
working for themselves, even married women, all 
over the United States. In many of the New 
England manufacturing towns there are hun- 
dreds, and in some of them thousands, of women, 
already married, working at the same trades as 
their husbands, but keeping their own separate 
bank accounts at the savings banks. A man can 
no longer afford to abuse a woman because she is 
dependent upon him, and dare not complain, for 
fear of losing her source of maintenance. A 
woman of any brains in any industry can care 
for herself quite as well as any husband is likely 



WOMAN AND HER WORK. 527 

to care for her. The consequence is that divorces 
are very infrequent in New England manu- 
facturing towns. If either member of a married 
couple is given to lounging and bad habits, it is 
likely to be the man. It is only fair to say in 
man's favor that the temptations are principally 
on the masculine side. Women have not yet to 
any extent taken to drink, billiards and politics. 
They do not bet on horse-races or buy pools on 
sparring matches or go on excursions to neigh- 
boring towns for the sake of indulging habits 
which are unsafe to make public at home; so 
the woman of the house is far less likely to be 
out of work or to be away from her post than her 
husband. 

What the effect of this change in the indus- 
trial outlook may be upon children is yet un- 
known. But it is a fair question, whether the 
woman whose daily hours are employed at me- 
chanical or clerical occupations is likely to bring 
up her children worse than the woman whose 
leisure moments are consumed in small talk and 
social dissipation. No child can be less cared 
for than that of the society queen. The com- 
monest washer-woman, who leaves her home at 
early dawn and does not return until dark, can 
give her offspring more attention than can be 
expected by the children of many ladies whose 
names appear in the fashionable columns of 
newspapers which give considerable space to that 



528 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

sort of thing. Whether each family should not 
contain one member whose duties and interests 
are entirely confined to the home circle, is also a 
question upon which a great deal can be said upon 
both sides. But the fact to be brought into 
prominence at the present time is that woman 
has already acquired the right to earn her own 
living and is doing it, to the extent of some hun- 
dreds of thousands of women, most admirably. 
Women are presidents of large colleges in the 
United States; colleges, it is true, intended solely 
for the education of members of their own sex ; 
nevertheless the course of study and the subse- 
quent social and literary standing of the gradu- 
ates shows that the work done in these institu- 
tions is well done. The best proof of this is in 
the better colleges for girls in the United States. 
The demand for scholarships far exceeds the 
supply, and there are millionaires in this country 
who have not yet been able to put their daugh- 
ters in any one of the three or four best femi- 
nine colleges in the land. 

In literature woman has made her way to an 
extent which every one knows, if he reads at 
all. Our most popular novels are all written 
by women. Women write a great deal of our 
poetry. It is impossible to find a first-class mag- 
azine which does not contain a number of con- 
tributions by women, and those contributions are 
quite as much talked about aud quite as fre- 



SEflliS OF THE THlJ^TEEfi Ot^IGIflflli STATES. 




RHODE ISLAND 



[CONNECTICUT 



WOMAN AND H^R WORK. 02D 

quently read as anytliing written by the most 
prominent masculine minds in the land. As a 
novelist, the young woman is immeasurably the 
superior of the young man. No young man 
ever wrote a novel as famous as " Charles Au- 
chester " at as early an age (seventeen years) as 
that of the young lady who is the author of this 
still much-read book; and our publishers are 
flooding the market with other novels by women 
who have not yet reached their majority. If 
quick perception, facility of expression, and 
piquant comment are sufficient to make the 
novelist, our future novels must be written prin- 
cipally by young women. That they make some 
dreadful blunders is very true. Some of the 
most abominable books that have been inflicted 
upon a much-suffering public during the past 
year have been from the pens of young women 
who ought to have known better, if they had 
known anything at all. Nevertheless, it is a 
great deal easier in literature to tone down than 
to tone up, and somehow the necessity for toning 
down has not been apparent to any great extent 
in fiction and poetry written by young men. 

The " restraining force," to which social phi- 
losophers attribute the sudden rise of some family, 
nation and tribe, may account for the sudden 
prominence and brilliancy of women in many 
departments of life. There may be such a thing 
as inheritance by sex, and a sex long suppressed, 

34 



530 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

as woman certainly lias been, in all but tlie do- 
mestic virtues, may bave a great deal to give tbe 
world and then suddenly fade out of prominence. 
But at present all odds are in favor of woman. 
Sbe bas made ber way so rapidly, tbougb unob- 
trusively, and so pleasantly, tbat every man wbo 
bas the proper manly heart within him will be 
glad to see ber go a great deal further, and be- 
lieve that she is quite competent to do it. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

OUR I.ITERATURE. 

Americans are the greatest readers on earth. 
Any one can tell you this — any one from a col- 
lege president down to the newsboy on a railway 
train. 

They read pretty much everything, and never 
are at a loss for ways of obtaining something to 
read. 

Books are cheaper here than anywhere else in 
the world, thanks to immunity from arrest and 
punishment for theft of literary property. We 
can take the brains of all Europe, as expressed 
in printed pages on the other side of the At- 
lantic, and reprint them here without fear of the 
sheriff, and what man can do without fear of the 
law he is likely to do so long as he sees any 
money in it. 

There is no section, State or town so poor that 
its people cannot find something to read when 
they want it. The inhabitants of a township 
whose centre is nothing but a post-office, a store 
and a blacksmith shop, may be too poor to buy 

531 



532 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS 01^ THEE." 

a paper of pins, unless they Have credit witli the 
storekeeper, but they always are able to find 
something to read. If there is nothing else, 
they can fall back upon the Sunday-school books, 
and nowadays Sunday-school libraries are not as 
bad as they used to be. Almost any book that 
is respectable and has any feature of interest can 
be worked into a Sunday-school library by an 
enterprising publisher. A Methodist parson, 
who was congratulated a short time ago on his 
great success in organizing a Sunday-school 
in a sparsely settled district in one of the West- 
ern States, said, with a long sigh : " These chil- 
dren don't come here to learn the truths of the 
Gospel ; they come to get books for their families 
to read during the week." Perhaps the old man 
was right in his fear that the religious work of 
his parish was not going on as well as he wished ; 
he certainly was entirely correct regarding the 
demand for the books. Children who were dull 
and listless while the prayers and singing and 
lessons were going on brightened up quickly 
when the librarians came in to distribute the 
books which had been asked for, and the worst 
boys in town would cheerfully forego base-ball, 
swimming parties, watermelon stealing, cock- 
fighting and card-playing for an hour or two on 
Sunday for the sake of borrowing a book upon 
which to spend the spare hours of the week that 
was to follow. A good many people were drawn 



OUR LITERATURE. 533 

to Jesus by tlie loaves and fishes, but books are 
the most successful bait of the modern church. 
But the Sunday-school library is the most 
modest of the many sources from which the 
poorer class of Americans draw their reading 
matter. There are at least a dozen series of 
novels being published in the United States at 
the present time on a plan which enables the 
publishers to dodge the postal laws regarding 
printed matter by assuming to be serial publica- 
tions. Under the law any book sent out by a 
publisher should pay postage at the rate of half 
a cent an ounce ; but a library, so called, may 
send out its publications under the rules govern- 
ing serials of every kind, which can be paid for at 
the post-office at the rate of two cents' per pound ; 
consequently for several years there has been 
an absolute inundation of fiction. Stimulated 
by this feature of the law, a number of enter- 
prising men have reprinted all the standard 
novels of the past century in cheap form and 
distributed them broadcast over the entire coun- 
try; and, to do them justice, have also issued a 
number of histories and other standard works 
in the same manner, and as people have pur- 
chased them, it is reasonable to suppose that 
they have read them. 

But books are not all that is read by that 
great portion of our people who have a great 
deal of leisure time and no sufficient means of 



534 "my country, 'tis of thee." 

enjoying it beyond reading. A million maga- 
zines are circulated every month, and twice as 
many weeklies. Some time ago the newspapers 
began to realize this fact, and straightway they 
supplemented their Saturday or Sunday editions 
with additional sheets containing miscellaneous 
reading-matter of all kinds, some of it as good 
as any that appears in the magazines. The 
worst of it is quite as good as the majority of 
current novels ; and as the highest price of a 
newspaper in the United States is five cents per 
copy, and the supplementary sheets of some 
papers contain as much as an entire magazine, 
there is no lack of reading matter for any one 
who has the price of a glass of beer or a cheap 
cigar. 

Not only is the supply of printed matter great, 
but the demand is being increased in many ways 
that are entirely admirable. There are now sev- 
eral societies which at a very trifling cost advise 
people what to read, and in what order to take 
certain books in hand. Some of them — notably 
the well-known Chautauqua Society — have read- 
ing circles under advice and partial supervision 
which number as many people as the students 
of all the colleges in the country. A number 
of societies of similar purpose are scattered about 
the country, each with its list of books which its 
members are advised to read — books which are 
carefully selected by men whose literary judg- 



OUR LITERATURE. 535 

ment would be accepted in any intelligent circle 
in the Union. 

One result of the American avidity for read- 
ing matter is that the guild of American authors 
is becoming quite as numerous as that of any 
other country in the world. The American who 
does not write a book is almost a curiosity at the 
present time, and generally thinks it necessary 
to explain why he has not already done some- 
thing of the kind, and when and how he would 
be able to do it. The stories which are pub- 
lished in cheap form in the United States are 
largely from foreign pens, but it is known to 
those who observe the subject closely that the 
number of American authors is increasing more 
rapidly than in any other country. Any one 
here who knows anything on a particular sub- 
ject, or who has any reputation or prominence 
for any reason whatever, is asked to write a 
book, and such invitations are very seldom de- 
clined ; for if the man cannot write, he can at 
least hire some one to put his thoughts into 
words. Men who in older countries would be 
ashamed to take pen in hand at all to produce 
anything for publication, have here received enor- 
mous compensation for single volumes on sub- 
jects with which they merely were acquainted, 
not those upon which they had any reason to be 
quoted as authority. 

Bveu in the serious department of history we 



536 "my country, 'tis of thee." 

"have recently seen numerous books from men 
notoriously unfit in point of judgment to inflict 
anything of the sort upon a confiding public. 
But money is offered as an inducement, pen and 
ink are cheap, type-writers are plentiful, so the 
work goes merrily on, and it may need all the 
wisdom of another generation to correct the mis- 
takes which have been made in print by writers 
of the present time. 

Nevertheless, the steady demand which seems 
to be profitable to both authors and publishers is 
inciting the intelligent and educated class to 
efforts which once would have been impossible 
except to the very small number who were sufii- 
ciently well off to regard their literary work as 
a labor of love, and to expect no compensation 
except what might come from approving con- 
sciences. The modern novelist frequently gets 
more for a single volume than the elder Haw- 
thorne received for all the books of his incom- 
parable series. Literature has become a business 
as well as an intellectual occupation. Mr. Ban- 
croft probable expended more money upon his 
well-known "History of the United States" than 
was received by those who sold his books at 
retail, but nowadays the writer of an alleged 
history can count upon as much pay for a has- 
tily prepared book as a prominent lawyer would 
expect to receive for handling a case requiring 
long study and effort. 



OUR LITERATURE. 537 

Ttese tilings being true — and authors and 
publishers will assure the public that they are — 
it is entirely safe to assume that we are soon to 
have a highly successful and valuable class of 
writers in the United States. " The coming 
book," an expression which must soon go out of 
date, may be a history, a poem, a biography or a 
novel, but there will be so many more books than 
heretofore, that a work of great merit in any de- 
partment of literature will possibly have to wait 
until another generation for proper recognition. 
There is so much to read that no book-worm 
can keep pace with the publishers' presses. The 
last new novel may be very good or very bad, but 
whichever may be the case the general public 
stands very little chance of knowing, for before 
it has had time to reach the hands of many 
readers a dozen more have come from the press, 
and it is only chance or an exceptional degree 
of merit, which it is unfair to expect of any one 
more than once in a century, that will bring a 
book properly to notice. 

For instance, some years ago Gen. Lew Wal- 
lace wrote a story entitled " Ben-Hur," which 
sold fairly for a little while, but made no great ex- 
citement in the literary world. Fortunately for 
the author and the book, which certainly was an 
original and meritorious production. Gen. Wal- 
lace had an immense host of personal friends 
who little by little had the book brought to their 



538 '' MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

notice ; they read it and talked about it, until 
finally, by tbis unsolicited and unpaid advertis- 
ing, bis story became famous and is now in its 
tbird bundredtb tbousand of circulation, witb a 
promise of going on perbaps indefinitely. 

Two years ago Mr. Bdward Bellamy wrote bis 
" Looking Backward." It was a tbougbtful, able 
story, toucbing many of tbe nearest interests of 
humanity, but it sold only a few tbousand copies, 
and seemed making its way to tbe backs of book- 
sellers' shelves, when two or three essays upon 
tbe general subject recalled attention to it. Tbe 
people of a single city — which, of course, was 
Boston — took it up first as a fad, and afterwards 
as a serious study, and now tbe book is in gen- 
eral demand and promises to renew and widely 
stimulate public discussion of a very old sub- 
ject which must come to tbe surface once in a 
little while until perhaps it becomes a recognized 
principle of human conduct and existence. 

These are merely two of many books of 
great value, or at least great interest, which 
have been saved from the general literary 
deluge by means which seem merely accidental. 
Of tbe many which have been lost perbaps irre- 
vocably the public has no idea. Hawthorne 
himself, to whom allusion has already been made, 
was not read one-twentieth as much by the 
people of his own day as now. Carlyle, who 
probably is more read in America than in 



OUR LITERATURE. 539 

Europe, owes his popularity here and the great 
sale of his works to the personal efforts of his 
friend, Mr, Emerson, who insisted that the 
book should be published in this country, but 
who would not have succeeded had not his own 
publishers had reasons for wishing to oblige him 
personally. 

These facts regarding literature are not pecu- 
liar to America. Many years ago an English- 
man named Charles Wells wrote a dramatic 
poem which did not pass its first edition of a 
few hundred copies. About a quarter of a 
century later Swinburne chanced upon a copy 
of the book, and wrote a review of it, which set all 
lovers of dramatic poetry to looking for the poem 
itself, and now it is making its way through 
edition after edition. Only ten years ago Brown- 
ing's latest long poem, whatever it may have been, 
was refused successively by nearly all reputable 
American publishers, yet the Browning craze is 
now a matter of history. 

The meaning of all this is that books come 
from the press far more rapidl}^ than people can 
read them, but the ease of circulation of litera- 
ture in the United States promises to change 
all that. There is now scarcely a town of two 
thousand people in the United States which has 
not its circulating library, and which has not also 
some people who are thoughtful, intelligent and 
influential. A book getting into such a library 



540 "my country, 'tis oi^ the;k." 

is sure, sooner or later, to find a large number 
of readers. The individual reader is the best 
advertisement that either author or publisher can 
ask for, and though the first edition may be very 
small, so small that the publisher hesitates to 
reprint, nevertheless in time a book of any value 
is sure to be brought properly to the attention 
of the public. 

There is every reason, therefore, to believe that 
our native authors, and many people who can 
write and should write but have not 5''et felt en- 
couraged to do so, will yet be stimulated to do their 
best work. A prominent publisher in New York 
was once asked — the question being suggested 
by a poor book which he had published on a very 
interesting subject — why he did not secure a bet- 
ter man to write it ? " For the best reason in 
the world," said he; "the men who could do justice 
to the subject are all making their living in some 
other way and have to pay close attention to their 
business. They can't afford to write books." 
This lack of financial encouragement is rapidly 
disappearing. The man who has anything to say 
in this country and knows how to say it properly 
can now afford to give time and thought to his 
subject, with the assurance that, when he is ready 
to write and tc print, he will find readers. 

It does not follow that everything written with 
earnestness and sincerity of purpose is worth at- 
tention. " Great minds think alike," but not all 



OUR LITERATURE. 541 

great minds are properly educated, and we get an 
immense number of books, supposed by their 
authors to be original, whose contents are mere 
skeletons of what has been better expressed by 
some one else. The publisher often finds him- 
self in the position of the patent office ex- 
aminer. It is well known that at the patent office 
applications in large numbers are received every 
week for letters patent on supposed inventions 
which were made long ago by some one else, but 
of which the latest applicant was entirely ignor- 
ant. Men of thoughtful and inventive minds 
reproduce each other in every clime. There is 
not a savage tribe on the face of the earth which 
did not find out for itself the art of making cutting 
tools, building houses, constructing boats, cooking 
utensils and whatever else might be necessary to 
domestic life and its many necessities. The same 
holds in literature. Certain self-evident truths 
of philosophy or ethics, certain plots and situa- 
tions in fiction, are common to all classes of 
people ; and the consequence is that our literature 
is burdened with material of every kind, from the 
highest theology to the lowest sensation, which 
seems mere plagiarism on something which has 
preceded. Even Longfellow, who is nearer the 
American heart than any other of our poets, was 
persistently accused of plagiarism because he ex- 
pressed thoughts and ideas which had been said 
as well, sometimes better, by older poets ; yet 



542 *' MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

Longfellow was supposed to be a man of wide 
reading. 

But American facilities for reading and for 
learning all that has been said by the wisgr minds 
and more brilliant wits of other times is bound to 
change all that, and probably within the lifetime 
of the present generation. Besides from the in- 
cidents, peculiarities and necessities of our own 
national life, our literature is now extending into 
all fields heretofore monopolized by the wiser 
minds of the old world. American essays, poems 
and novels are now frequently reprinted in 
Europe and translated into many languages. 
Many American novels may now be found in 
several of the older languages of Europe, and the 
popular author of the present day does not con- 
sider his work done until he has sent copies of his 
original manuscript to at least two European 
publishers. The French Revue des Deux 
Mondes^ which is supposed to be the most fas- 
tidious of foreign publications in its selection of 
material, has given a great deal of space to 
American novelists and poets, and again and 
again English novelists have complained that 
some upstart American was crowding their books 
off of the railway station news-stands. Emer- 
son's essays, Longfellow's poems, and Howell's 
novels may be found in any bookstore in Eng- 
land, and it is not hard to find them on the con- 
tinent. There are half a dozen different editions 



OUR LITERATURE. 54"^ 

of Poe's poems in tlie French language alone. 
American historical works not entirely on Ameri- 
can topics may be found in several European 
languages, and are held in high esteem by foreign 
historians. One historical work published in 
the United States two or three years ago has al- 
ready been translated into every language of 
Northern Europe. How many more there may 
be deponent knoweth not. 

All this is cheering, not only to national pride, 
but because there are features in American liter- 
ature which are superior to those of any older 
nation. This is noticeably true of our fiction, in 
which there are elements of cheerfulness, hope 
and humor, which are almost entirely lacking in 
the light literature, so-called, of other countries. 
When one speaks of a foreign novel from any 
press but that of Great Britain the supposition 
naturally is that it relates entirely to the closer 
relations of the sexes ; that the end of it will not 
be entirely pleasing ; and that, however strong its 
plot and diction, it will not be what is called 
" entirely proper," — it will not be a book which 
one can safely take home without reading and 
leave on the table of his sitting-room for wife, 
children and visitors to pick up at random. 

Some of that sort of stuff has come from the 
American press of late years, more's the pity, but 
it promises to be rather sporadic and accidental 
than a prominent feature of our literature. It 



544 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

resembles an outbreak of yellow fever in a North- 
ern port — something which may get there bj^ 
accident and do mischief for a little while, but 
which cannot effect a permanent lodgment. 
The mass of unclean stories which ventured into 
the daylight of print after the publication of 
Amelie Rives' sensational novel is already begin- 
ning to disappear. When for a day or two a city 
chances to fall under mob law, the world seems 
turned upside down for the time being ; but the 
better sense and strength of the community soon 
come to the rescue and the dangerous element is 
suppressed. A similar result is already being 
accomplished regarding pernicious fiction. Pub- 
lishers who have hastily accepted stories which 
their professional readers pronounced " strong " 
are beginning to apologize for offering such stuff 
to the public. 

American literature will be marked b}" a hopeful, 
cheerful, clean, energetic spirit, and as such it v\'ill 
give our people what they cannot easil}'- obtain 
from the presses of foreign countries. We have 
faults enough, of which mention has frequently 
been made in this book, but lack of respectabilit}^ 
and of hopefulness are not among them. Our 
novels are cleaner than those of any other land ; 
our history in the main is decidedly cheering and 
stimulating in its influence ; our poetry, although 
perhaps not as elegant as that of Europe, has a great 
deal more of inspiration in it for readers, and our 



OUR LITERATURE. 545 

fiction is based upon tlie life of our own people, 
whicli is in the main respectable. Incidents and 
scenes as bad as any that the world can supply 
may of course be found in American life by tliose 
wbo choose to look for them, but they are not 
likely to be written up or read to any extent, 
except by the vulgar classes. Books about which 
intelligent and cultivated people on the continent 
will talk freely in social circles are scarcely toler- 
ated here ; some of them are reprinted, but the 
editions as a rule are very small. Translations 
of continental novels have generally failed dis- 
mally in a commercial sense in the United States. 
There are a few exceptions, but the rule is so 
distinct that no one of literary taste, ability and 
intelligence now wastes his time in translating 
foreign novels in the hope of securing American 
publishers. The native writer as a rule is not as 
skilful as his foreign brother, but he successfully 
tells our people of what they wish to know. He is 
in sympathy with their thoughts, tastes, customs 
and aspirations, so his stories and essays are found 
in all our weekly papers and magazines, while 
more skilful productions of foreign pens, which 
might be had for nothing, are generally excluded. 
There is no longer any question as to whether 
we shall have a literature of our own. We have 
it. It is increasing in volume more rapidly than 
our people can follow it. It is a good sign. It 
means that we are a " peculiar people " — not per* 



54G " MY COUNTRY, ^TIS OF THEE.'* 

liaps in the seuse in which, the expression was 
used regarding the ancient Hebrews, yet in some 
respects it means the same. Conceit aside, it 
really means that we are better than other 
people. Long may we remain so 1 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

AMERICAN HUMOR. 

The burden of foreign criticism of tlie people 
of tlie United States may be expressed in the 
language of the vulgar by saying that we are 
" too fresh." Well, if we are, we have the salt 
that will save us, and that salt is American 
Humor. 

Whatever may be the failing of any American, 
whether native or adopted, he may generally be 
depended upon for a sense of humor. If there 
is no other point of contact between him and the 
stranger who encounters him, it is quite safe to 
fall back upon humor as a common meeting 
ground. 

This is the only country in the world in which 
everybody indulges in joking. Other countries 
have their wits and humorists who are a special 
class among themselves. But here any and 
every man must have a sense of humor and know 
how to use it if he wants to get along with his 
fellow-citizens. 

Some of our most humorous men are solemn 
judges. Others are physicians. Editors are 

647 



548 "my country, 'tis of thee." 

humorists as a matter of c©urse, and even the 
clergyman with a level head leans to the belief 
that his education is incomplete until he can turn 
a joke as well as he can preach a sermon. 

We joke about everything. This does not 
mean that we make fun of everything, but that, 
as everything has its possible humorous side, we 
are competent to see it and call attention to it. 

There is no department of American history, 
political, military, social or religious, in which 
traces of the humorist may not be found. 
There was considerable sense of fun among the 
grim old fellows who came over in the May- 
flower, as any one may find out for himself if he 
will take the trouble to look to the original rec- 
ords, and in the many volumes of correspondence 
which have appeared in genealogical history of 
the first families of New England. There is 
quite as much sense of humor manifested as in 
similar records of the first families of Virginia. 
It is the custom in history to draw a sharp divid- 
ing line between these two classes of American 
pioneers, but the line disappears as soon as one 
gets beneath the surface. Solemnity and serious- 
ness, whether counterfeit or genuine, can be 
maintained for only a certain length of time by 
any one. So Puritan and Cavalier speedily went 
back to a distinguishing trait of their common 
ancestors in the old country, and improved 
upon it. 



AMERICAN HUMOR. 649 

In tHe United States no subject is too sacred to 
joke about; or, at least, too sacred to be exam- 
ined in the ligbt of humor. Americans as a class 
are a reverent people. They would not for the 
world make fun of the Deity, but many of them 
talk of the most sacred sentiments and person- 
ages with a familiarity and play of humor which 
terribly shock some of the formalists from the 
other side of the water. When Mr. Lowell wrote 
his earlier series of the "Bigelow Papers" his 
verses were read with much curiosity and some 
delight in Europe, but suddenly the entire Eng- 
lish press was horrified by his lines : 

" You've got to get up airly 
Ef you •want to take in God." 

This was pronounced by one high English liter- 
ary authority the most irreverent and blasphe- 
mous expression that ever had appeared in print ; 
but Mr. Lowell replied by saying that familiarity 
was not irreverence; that the early American 
was intimately acquainted with his God — he had 
to be. There was no other friend upon whom he 
could rely, and conscientiously he talked about 
Him in a half playful but always affectionate 
manner, which was the custom regarding the 
earthly parents of the period. 

It is impossible to go anywhere in American 
society, no matter how high nor how serious the 
subject under consideration may be, without en- 
countering, generally to the hearer's benefit, the 



550 " MY COUNTRY, 'TLS OF THEE." 

American spirit of humor. Congress may be in 
session and tiie country almost convulsed by 
some grave discussion which is going on, never- 
theless on the floor of the House and far more in 
the committee-rooms and in the lobby one is sure 
to hear the strongest arguments advanced in 
humorous form. They are called jokes, but some 
new word should be coined to give them the 
dignity which their usefulness has enabled them 
to attain. 

The most serious man in appearance in the 
United States, excepting none of the early Puritan 
divines, was probably the late President Lincoln, 
His visage was not only earnest and solemn but 
positively mournful whenever it was in repose. 
He was a debater of high order, he was a logician 
whom men who had held him in contempt for his 
homely ways and awkward manner learned to 
respect as soon as they crossed verbal "swords 
with him, but Lincoln's strongest argument was 
always a joke. He said and wrote many things 
which were grand in their day, but which seemed 
to have been entombed in printed pages and 
diplomatic papers, for one seldom hears them 
quoted now-a-days ; yet his jokes still live. 
They are perennial, not merely those which 
were attributed to him, but those which he really 
made. " To clinch a point," which was one of 
his own favorite expressions, he tried the pa- 
tience of his Cabinet severely at times by per- 



American: humor. 551 

sistmg in joking upon serious subjects — matters 
of great moment at the time ; and it is said upon 
good authority that once he opened the Cabinet 
meeting called specially with the hope of aver- 
ting great disaster to the Union cause by reading 
the last printed letter of Petroleum V. Nasby 
on the Democratic doings at Confederit X Roads, 
State ov Kentucky. Before the meeting was 
over, however, Mr. Lincoln read his Emancipa- 
tion Proclamation. While Mr. Seward, as able 
and adroit a man as ever held the portfolio of 
Secretary of State, would be wondering how to 
reply to an annoying committee or deputation 
which had come from some one of the North- 
em States to instruct the Government how to 
carry on the war, Mr. Lincoln was quietly con- 
structing a little joke or recalling one from his 
past experiences which would be appropriate to 
the occasion, and after the joke was inflicted 
upon the committee Mr. Seward was sure to 
find that his own carefully prepared speech was 
entirely unnecessary. 

But it is not only in political circles that 
humor has been made to serve the cause of good 
government, good morals and the highest degree 
of righteousness in the United States. The 
members of the Supreme Court of the United 
States are all practical jokers ; that is, they all 
are fond of avoiding a long-winded argument by 
telling a story illustrative of the question at 



552 "my country, ^tis of thee.'' 

issue. Ministers do the same. A meeting of clergy- 
men of any denomination is likely to result in 
some very sharp discussion which closely ap- 
proaches to ill temper, but in such cases some one 
may always be depended upon to get up and tell a 
humorous story which gives point to the proceed- 
ings, and also gives them a new direction and 
acts like oil upon the troubled waters. Humor 
is tolerated even in the pulpit. The late Henry 
Ward Beecher frequently made his congregation 
laugh on Sunday, and some of the newspapers 
criticised him severely for it, but he seldom lost 
a parishioner on that account, and thousands of 
people — who never otherwise would have heard 
him — were brought under his spiritual influence 
by appreciation of a faculty that drew them 
into closer sympathy with him as a man. A 
preacher of a very different stamp, the Rev. Sam 
Jones, of Georgia, never hesitates to tell funny 
stories, always illustrative of his subject, while 
delivering his talks, and Sam addresses larger 
congregations than any other American preacher 
of the present time. 

Humor makes its way everywhere in the 
United States. Newspapers are full of it, and 
the most high-toned and serious of them find it 
necessary to supply their readers with jokes. A 
New Yorker recently held a neighbor to account 
for reading habitually a very serious and almost 
bilious daily newspaper. " I don't read it much," 



AMERICAN HUMOR. 553 

said he, " but I buy it because its funny column 
contains a better assortment of jokes tban any 
otber paper in tbe city." The principal editorial 
writer of a large New York daily paper, a paper 
of wide circulation and great influence, once com- 
plained to the managing editor that all the point 
of a leading article to which he had devoted two 
days of thought had been expressed in the 
paragraph column by a joke one line long. 

The public meeting is the truest, the fairest 
expression of American opinion in any given 
locality, but in the public meeting it is always the 
humorist who sways the audience and carries the 
day. He may be one of the stated speakers, a 
man of great wisdom and force, for wisdom and 
wit are closely allied in the American nature, 
however the celebrated couplet of the late Alex- 
ander Pope about " great wit and madness " may 
seem to indicate the contrary. In the great 
political discussions, now historic, which once 
were conducted by Abraham Lincoln and Senator 
Douglas, when both were comparatively young 
men, and the Democratic champion got his 
adversary into a corner, as occasionally he did, 
Lincoln always got out of his predicament with 
a joke — never with an argument — and the audi- 
ence never failed to see the point. This shows 
the universality of the American sense of humor. 
In any other country of the world the peasantry, 
who are the nearest possible parallel to the 



554 ** MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

farmers of America, are stupid and dull of com- 
prehension, but an American crowd, no matter 
how far away from the centres of civilization, nor 
how solemn, and serious, and weary, and dull of 
comprehension their faces may seem, can always 
be depended upon to take the point of a joke. 
They are equally quick to resent an attempt at 
humor which is not correctly and sharply pointed. 
They are all humorists themselves. Get a seat 
on the wagon of a farmer driving along a country 
road and engage the man in conversation, and 
you will hear more sharp, pithy, humorous say- 
ings than you are apt to get from any professed 
wit in polite society. Let the man meet a brother 
farmer coming from the opposite direction, and, 
although the conversation will naturally turn on 
the crops, and the taxes, and local government, 
and family or individual misfortunes, the conver- 
sation is sure to be spiced with humor. In other 
countries it seems to require a jolly fellow, a man 
of high spirits, to say funny things ; but here, if 
you chance not to expect the man of solemn vis- 
age, the man bowed down with care, to break 
out humorously, you are sure to be agreeably 
disappointed. 

Even in stated religious meetings this quality 
of the American nature frequently displays itself 
unexpectedly, but always with effect. As solemn 
and religious gathering as can be seen in the 
United States is the camp-meeting in the far 



AMERICAN HUMOR. 555 

West, where people come from many miles 
around to listen to the only form of religious 
service which they have the privilege of attend- 
ing. The sermons and prayers are intensely 
earnest. The speakers have an immense sense 
of responsibility of the duties incumbent upon 
them, but in sermon, and even sometimes in 
prayer, expressions break forth which show that 
in no circumstances can the native American be 
free from the domination of his sense of humor. 
The most powerful individual influence that ever 
existed in the Western camp-meetings, according 
to historians sacred and profane, was a man 
named Peter Cartright, a Methodist preacher. 
He would move audiences to tears and sometimes 
to groans by the eloquence and earnestness of 
his preaching, yet suddenly, at the most unex- 
pected times, he would say things that would 
put his entire congregation into paroxysms of 
laughter. The purpose of the meeting never 
was disturbed by these discursive efforts. They 
were as much to the point as the most earnest 
statements and exhortations which he had pre- 
viously made, and were entirely in keeping with 
the general intentions of the service. 

Passing from conversation to printed utter- 
ances, it may be safely said that the humorous 
writings of Americans have been more read than 
any other literature which has appeared from our 
press. We have many able editors in the United 



556 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEK." 

States, but those most read are those who say 
the funniest things. There never was a more 
influential editor in the United States than the 
late George D. Prentice, who for a long time 
managed the newspaper which now is the Louis- 
ville Courier-Journal. Prentice was a Whig, but 
probably half of his readers were Democrats. 
They didn't like his politics, but they couldn't 
get along without his fun. His paper was pub- 
lished in a Southern State, a slave State, but 
more than half of its circulation was in the free 
States of the North. While Prentice lived there 
was scarcely a post-office in the Mississippi or 
Ohio Valley which did not receive copies of it by 
mail. Its influence extended as far North as 
Chicago and the North-western States, and the 
local paper which didn't repeat his humorous 
bits was likely to be informed by its readers that 
there must be a reform in that direction. For 
many years the most popular portion of the very 
good editorial page of one of the most prominent 
daily papers of New York was its humorous 
editorial. The topics of the writer were seldom 
those of the great interests of the day, yet people 
read it, turned to it the first thing, talked about 
it to their friends, compelled them to read it, and 
felt lost when the writer of those articles was 
transferred to a different field of labor. 

We have some popular poets in the United 
States, but it is doubtful whether the works of 



AMERICAN HUMOR. 557 

any ot them have been as much read as Mr. 
Lowell's " Bigelow Papers." Mr. Lowell is no 
mean poet himself; there are critics who insist 
that he has not an equal among American versi- 
fiers, but the humorous verses just alluded to 
have made him better known than all of his more 
serious efforts, and it is believed by intelligent 
men of all parties that it had immense effect in 
bringing about the political changes which im- 
mediately preceded the late civil war. 

During the civil war there were many editors 
who used to say, with some evidence of annoy- 
ance, that they wished they could be read as much 
as Nasby . Nasby was an Ohio editor who invented 
a scene and some characters in the South, and 
wrote about them so persistently and with such 
a realistic air that his effusions were copied 
regularly in almost all of the Republican papers 
of the land. Another man who was more read 
than any editor of the day was Artemas Ward. 
He did not go into politics to any great extent, 
but what he did say was so accurately satirical 
that nearly everybody read it and was the wiser 
for it. The mistakes of our generals, the blun- 
ders of our government and the crimes of many 
of our contractors were the subject of a great 
deal of vigorous editorial writing, but no one suc- 
ceeded in bringing them so forcibly to the atten- 
tion of the public as a wit who wrote under the 
nom de plume of Orpheus C. Iferr. During the 



558 "my country, 'tis of thee." 

same period there were facts in tlie local history 
of New York extreniely uncomplimentary to one 
great political party, and the opposing party lost 
no opportunity to disclose them and criticise them 
in editorial columns and news columns, but one 
man was more read than all others combined. 
It was the man who wrote the satire entitled 
"The New Gospel of Peace," in which the 
doings of the alleged Peace Party were set forth 
in humorous style. 

At the present time the men whose writings 
are most read are not the historians, editors, 
essayists, or even novelists. They are the hu- 
morists. Bill Nye is more read than any novelist 
in the United States. So is James Whitcomb 
Riley. In Chicago there are a number of able 
journalists, but the one most quoted by name 
not only in his own city but throughout the 
Union is Eugene Field, whose humor finds no 
subject too great or too small to dwell upon. A 
little while ago an edition de hixe of his humor- 
ous prose and verse was published at a very high 
price, and some of the later would-be subscribers 
found to their disgust that the list was full and 
no more books could be supplied. Is there any 
poet or novelist in the United States who has had 
a commercial experience like this ? 

Mr. John Hay, once a Secretary of President 
Lincoln, and afterward a hard-working journalist, 
is also a poet, and has perpetrated some graceful 



AMERICAN HUMOR. 559 

verses, but when any one oflfers to quote a bit from 
Jolin Hay, tlie hearers always understand that it 
will be something humorous. His dialect poems 
do not exceed half-a-dozen, yet they seem as 
popular now as when first written twenty years 
ago. They were not carefully elaborated ; the 
author is said to have dashed them off in a hurry 
as a relief from hard editorial work, but the}^ 
struck the popular heart at once, probably be- 
cause, like most other American humor, there 
was a basis of seriousness and sense to them. 
The finale of his poem, "Little Breeches," — a 
poetic story of a lost child who was saved, as his 
father supposed, by angels, will long be the most 
popular and effective protest against formal re- 
ligious ideas. He says of the angels : 

" I think that savin' a little child 

And bringin' him back to his own 
Is a durn sight better bizness 
Than loafin' round the throne." 

Was there ever a greater commercial success 
in literature than that achieved by IMark Twain ? 
The combined books of the most successful 
American novelist have not sold as many copies 
as one of Mark Twain's books. Why ? Because 
Mark Twain is funny — because he knows how to 
say something in a way in which nobody else 
has said it. Scores of other men have written 
about the Holy Land and our own West, but it 
was not until " Innocents Abroad " and " Rough- 



560 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE.'^' 

ing It " appeared tliat people in general began to 
manifest a lively interest in these portions of the 
world. Innumerable sketches have been written 
about life on the Mississippi River in the old 
days before railroads and emancipation, but all 
of them combined did not " catch " the public as 
successfully as " Huckleberry Finn." The latter 
was humorous, the others were not ; there was no 
other point of difference. 

It does not matter, to the American people, 
from where humor comes, so it reall}^ is humor- 
ous and has point to it. We will take it in any 
shape or dialect. One of the great successes of 
humorous literature during the civil war was 
that achieved by Col. Charles G. Halpine, who 
made a mythical Irish soldier, " Private Miles 
O'Reilly," his mouthpiece for a lot of humorous 
criticisms of the Government, the army and 
navy. During the same period there arose a 
Southerner, signing himself " Bill Arp," who 
made some hard hits, in humorous style, at the 
North ; somehow they found their way through 
the lines and were freely reprinted at the North. 
In later years another Southerner — the creator 
of " Uncle Remus," put a lot of delightful stories 
into negro dialect, and a host of people at once 
began to quote them. In New York Mr. Julian 
Ralph wrote a lot of humorous sketches under 
the general head of " The German Barber," and 
the newspaper press began to quote them. 



AMERICAN HUMOR. 561 

Across the ocean Max O'Rell began to satirize 
the English people and customs, and straightway 
his books sold better here than abroad. 

On the stage and platform, as everywhere else, 
humor is the most popular and attractive feat- 
ure. A few 3^ears ago, before the theatrical 
companies could easily reach any city or large 
town, the lecture was a favorite means of enter- 
tainment, and more than three hundred Ameri- 
cans and foreigners were busy every winter in 
hurrying from town to town to deliver lectures. 
The three hundred have been reduced almost to 
three, but there is room there still for any one 
who has anything humorous to say. " Bob " 
Burdette, more popularly known as " The Bur- 
lington Hawk-eye Man^'' works himself almost 
to death every winter in going all over the 
United States to give his humorous recitations. 
He is a very religious man, and a working Bap- 
tist, but people never ask him for a religious ad- 
dress : they always want to hear his fun. An- 
other of the few successful men remaining on 
the platform is A. P. Burbank, a man who for 
ten years has determined every year to go upon 
the stage in legitimate comedy, but so humorous 
are his recitations and so eflfective his manner in 
delivering them that those who have heard him 
before insist upon hearing him more, and he 
goes again and again to towns where he has been 
a dozen times before, each time to find his audi- 

3G 



562 "my country, 'tis of thee." 

ence larger and more appreciative, and each time 
to receive tlie assurance that they will want him 
again the following winter. Little Marshal 
Wilder, who never took a lesson in elocution in 
his life, and has been cruelly handicapped by 
nature, attempts merely to make people laugh ; 
he succeeds, so he seldom is allowed to have 
an evening to himself, and when the "platform " 
season is ended here goes over to England and 
has three or four engagements a night. 

Everybody knows that on the stage humor 
takes better than anything else. There may be 
a great tragedy well presented on the boards of 
a city theatre, or a brilliant spectacle, or a so- 
called emotional drama which appeals to every- 
thing improper in human nature, but the theatre 
which is presenting a good comedy can always 
depend upon holding its own. No dead-head 
seats are to be had at such theatres. The man- 
ager can always depend upon getting money for 
all the room at his disposal. The fun may be 
very rough, sometimes it is decidedly vulgar, but 
people ask as few questions and make as few 
protests against fun, no matter what its kind, 
as drunkards do against the quality of their 
whiskey. 

American appreciation of humor may be found 
also in the number and wide circulation of 
periodicals devoted entirely to fun. There used 
to be a theory that there was no room for a 



AMERICAN HUMOR. 563 

humorous paper in the United States because 
the ordinary dailies and weeklies indulged in so 
much fun themselves. But after the enormous 
success of Puck^ Judge^ Life^ and some other 
periodicals, it is useless to argue any longer on 
the subject. After a political or social question 
has been apparently worn threadbare in editorials 
and essays, out comes one of these papers with a 
pithy saying or a good cartoon that carries more 
influence than all the serious talk combined. It 
matters little upon which side of the question, 
even in politics, these professional humorists are 
found. Their hits when well made are cheer- 
fully acknowledged even by their own enemies. 
During the palmy days of the New York ring, 
Mr. Nast, the cartoonist of Harper's Weekly^ was 
offered an annual allowance several times larger 
than his salary if he would give up work entirely 
and go abroad. Humor and high character are 
often allied ; one of the strongest illustrations of 
the fact is that Mr. Nast without any hesitation 
refused this valuable offer. Some of the abuses 
of local government in New York have been more 
effectually fought by Mr. Keppler and his associ- 
ate artists in Puck than by all the work of editors, 
lawyers and judges. Puck's influence in politics 
became so great that before the last Presidential 
campaign began it became absolutely necessary 
for the party which it was fighting to start a 
humorous pictorial journal of their own, and it 



564 " MY COUNTRY, 'tis OF THEE.'' 

was quite safe to suppose tliat it was influeiitial 
in the political results that followed. 

A delightful thing about humorous writings is 
that no one seems jealous of their influence or 
afraid to give them greater prominence. The 
only complaint which the publishers of the 
humorous weeklies have to make against their 
brethren of the daily press is, that their own 
circulation might be better were not so many 
of their good things promptly reprinted every- 
where. No sooner does one of these papers come 
from the press than its best sayings are scissored 
and reprinted in a thousand or more papers. 
Almost any daily paper of large circulation seems 
to think it necessary to have a humorist of its 
own. The}^ pay more for humorous contributions 
than for any other class of matter, and all of them 
are more keenly on the look-out for a new 
humorist than for a possible Presidential can- 
didate. The readers of the daily press quote for 
one another the funny sayings of their favorite 
paper long before they think of mentioning the 
other contents ; indeed, most of them are so 
absorbed by the fun that they don't seem to have 
remembered anything else. 

We cannot possibly overestimate the value of 
our national faculty of seeing the humorous side 
of things. It keeps us from making ourselves 
ridiculous ; it prevents us, both as individuals 
and a people, from being laughed at for anything 



AMERICAN HUMOR. 565 

we may do in sober earnest. It is very hard, in 
this day and land, for any man, society, party or 
church to be a fool without hearing about it in a 
good-natured way that robs the rebuke of its 
sting. It is not so in other countries. 

But our sense of humor does still more for us. 
It smooths numberless rough places in the path- 
way of a people whose road is not easy to travel. 
It averts many a quarrel, closes dangerous 
breaches, and is balm to wounds that otherwise 
would smart. It is almost always harmless. 
There are men and women whose fun always 
lingers upon incidents that are vulgar, but this is 
a fault of perverted minds — not of the humorous 
spirit. It is a better introduction, between 
strangers, than any letter or form of words, and 
it expresses much in little, doing it more effec- 
tively than any of the wise saws and proverbs 
of more serious races. It seems irrepressible 
and omnipresent ; a man or woman may be too 
tired or sick to reason or to think, but whoever 
saw an American too weary to see the point of a 
joke or to offer another in return ? We need to 
preserve our humor almost as carefully as if it 
were our character, for should we ever lose it our 
character will be the worse for the change. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

THE HIGHER EDUCATION. 

America has more colleges, so called, than all 
the other civilized nations combined. 

These institutions of learning are not results 
of accident, or accretions of church reverences 
and purposes, like the great universities of older 
lands. Most of them were founded and have 
been maintained by the people at large, and these, 
until recent times, were very poor. They are 
testimonials to the level-head and tenacity of pur- 
pose of the American people. Says President 
Oilman, of Johns Hopkins University : 

" That tenacity of purpose with which a few 
settlers in the wilderness held on to the idea of a 
liberal education, in spite of their scanty crops 
and scantier libraries, their wide separation from 
the old-world seats of learning, and their lack of 
professional teachers, is one of the noblest of 
many noble traits possessed by our forefathers, 
who were never so weary or so poor that they 
could not keep alive the altar-fires in the temples 
of religion and of learning. Their primitive founda- 
tions did not depend on royal bounty or on feudal 

566 



THE HIGHER EDUCATION. 567 

Kens ; they were supported by free-will offerings 
from men and women in moderate circumstances ^ 
by the minister's savings and the widow's portion. 
It is only within the present generation that large 
donations have reached their coffers. The good 
and the bad we inherit in our collegiate systems 
were alike developed in the straitened school of 
necessity. 

"The founders of the original colleges were 
not only high-minded and self-sacrificing, but 
they were devoted to an ideal. They believed in 
the doctrine that intellectual power is worth more 
than intellectual acquisitions ; that an education 
of all the mental faculties is better for the hap- 
piness of individual scholars and for the advance- 
ment of the community than a narrow training 
for a special pursuit. Accordingly, their educa- 
tional system did not begin with professional 
seminaries, for the special training of any one 
class, but with schools of general culture, colleges 
of the liberal arts, as good as could be made with 
their resources and in that age. Instead of an 
academic staff made up of those who professed 
to teach some special branch of knowledge, these 
colleges had a master and fellows (or tutors), 
men who were fit to teach others those rudiments 
of higher learning in which they had themselves 
been taught. Moreover, as years rolled on, 
instead of concentrating personal and pecuniary 
support upon a few of the oldest and inost 



568 *' MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE.'^ 

promising foundations, far-sighted men built up 
in every portion of the land colleges correspond- 
ing in their principal features with the original 
foundations, and depending for maintenance on 
the beneficence of individuals. 

" The history of the colonial foundations 
abounds in examples of the wisdom and self- 
sacrifice with which they were conducted under 
circumstances which called for devotion to a lofty 
ideal. No one can study the biography of their 
graduates without discovering that they v/ere the 
men who moulded the institutions of this country. 
It is easy to point out deficiencies in these 
academic organizations, as it is to criticise the 
defects of the emigrants' cabins and the foresters' 
paths ; it is easy to lament that a deeper impres- 
sion was not made upon the scholarship of the 
world ; easy to mention influential men wdio 
never passed a day within college walls ; easy to 
provoke a smile, a sneer, or a censure by the 
record of some narrow-minded custom or pro- 
ceeding. But, nevertheless, the fact cannot be 
shaken that the old American colleges have been 
admirable places for the training of men. Let 
the roll of graduates of any leading institution 
be scrutinized, or even the record of a single class 
selected at random, and it will be seen that the 
number of life failures is very small, and the 
number of useful, intelligent, high-minded and 
Upright careers very large. It may, therefore. 



THE HIGHER EDUCATION. 569 

be said that the traditional college, though 
commonly hampered by ancient conditions and 
by the lack of funds with which to attain its own 
ideal, has remained the firm and valiant sup- 
porter of liberal culture, and that any revolu- 
tionary or rabid changes in its organization or 
methods should be carefully watched. Neverthe- 
less, as we proceed, it will be evident that changes 
are inevitable and that most desirable improve- 
ments are in progress. The child is becoming a 
man." 

But we need more concentration of effort, 
money and good men, both as instructors and 
students, in colleges where the highest educa- 
tion may be obtained. The great number of our 
colleges is a source of weakness — not of strength. 
A great number of these institutions are mere 
academies, and seem to have been founded princi- 
pally to keep students within the denominational 
fences of their parents ; the college is charged 
with what should be the special work of parent 
and pastor. Says President Oilman : 

" Bvery important Christian denomination has 
come to have its distinctive college, and many an 
argument has been framed to prove that sectarian 
colleges are better than those which seek to pro- 
mote the union of several religious bodies. It 
has not been thought sufficient that a college 
should be pervaded by an enlightened Christian- 
ity, nor even that it should be the stronghold of 



570 '' MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

a simple evangelical life and doctrine, nor that it 
should be orthodox as to the fundamental teach- 
ings of the Church ; but sectarian influences 
must everywhere predominate, among the trustees 
or in the faculty, or in both the governing bodies. 
Hence we see all over the land feeble, ill-endowed 
and poorly manned institutions, caring a little for 
sound learning, but a great deal more for the 
defence of denominational tenets." 

President Bliot, of Harvard, thus indicates the 
results of this spirit, added to another which is 
still less pardonable : 

" In the absence of an established church, or 
of a dominant sect in the United States, denomi- 
national zeal has inevitably tended to scatter 
even those scanty resources which in two cen- 
turies have become available for the higher edu- 
cation ; and this lamentable dissipation has been 
increased by the local pride of States, cities and 
neighborhoods, and the desire of many persons, 
vi^ho had money to apply to public uses, to found 
new institutions rather than to contribute to those 
already established — a desire not unnatural in a 
new country, where love of the old and venerable 
in institutions has but just sprung up. In short, 
the different social, pelitical and religious con- 
ditions of this country have, thus far, quite pre- 
vented the development of commanding universi- 
ties like those of the mother-country." 

As the greater colleges increase in financial 



thb: higher education. 571 

and intellectual strength, the weaker ones must 
either drop out of existence, or be satisfied to im- 
part merely the high-school course of instruction, 
and prepare their more aspiring pupils to enter 
colleges worthy of the name. Kx-President 
White, of Cornell University, foreshadows their 
future as follows : 

" Our country has already not far short of 
four hundred colleges and universities more or 
less worthy of those names, besides a vast num- 
ber of high-schools and academies quite as 
worthy to be called colleges or universities as 
many which bear those titles. But the system 
embracing all these has by no means reached its 
final form. Probably in its more complete de- 
velopment the stronger institutions, to the num- 
ber of twenty or thirty, will, within a generation 
or two, become universities in the true sense of 
the word, restricting themselves to university 
work ; beginning, perhaps, at the studies now 
usually undertaken in the junior year of our 
colleges, and carrying them on through the 
senior year, with two or three years of special or 
professional study afterward. The best of the 
others will probably accept their mission as col- 
leges in the true sense of the word, beginning 
the course two years earlier than at present, and 
continuing it to what is now the junior year. 
Thus they will do a work intermediate between 
the general school system of the country and the 



572 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE.'* ^ 

universities, a work whicli can be properly called 
collegiate, a work tlie need of which is now sorely 
felt, and which is most useful and honorable. 
Such an organization will give us as good a 
system as the world has ever seen, probably the 
best system." 

There is no lack of money for institutions of 
learning which show special aptitude in any 
direction. A belief in thorough education is 
common to almost all progressive men, whether 
they themselves are college graduates or " self- 
made" men. President White, after naming 
many men who have given largely to different 
colleges, says : 

" Such a tide of generosity bursting forth from 
the hearts and minds of strong and shrewd men 
who differ so widely from each other in residence 
and ideas, yet flowing in one direction, means 
something. What is it ? At the source of it 
lies, doubtless, a perception of dut}^ to the coun- 
try and a feeling of pride in the country's glory. 
United with this is, naturally, more or less of an 
honorable personal ambition ; but this is not all ; 
strong common sense has done much to create the 
current and still more to shape its course. For, 
as to the origin of this stream, the wealthy 
American knovv^s perfectly that the laws of his 
country favor the dispersion of inherited wealth 
rather than its retention ; that in two or three 
generations at most his descendants, no matter 



THE HIGHER EDUCATION. ^7'^ 

liow large their inheritance, must come to the 
level determined by their character and abilit}^ ; 
that their character and ability are most likely to 
be injured, and therefore the level* to which they 
subside lowered, by an inheritance so large as to 
engender self-indulgence ; that while, in Great 
Britain, the laws and customs of primogeniture 
and entail enable men of vast wealth to tie up 
their property, and so to found families, this, in 
America, is impossible ; and that though the 
tendency toward the equalization of fortunes may 
sometimes be retarded, it cannot be prevented. 

" So, too, as to the direction of the stream ; 
this same common sense has given its main 
channel. These great donors have recog- 
nized the fact that the necessity for universal 
primary education will always be seen, and can 
be adequately provided for, only by the people as 
a whole ; but that the necessity for that ad- 
vanced education which can alone vivify and 
energize the whole school system, drawing a rich 
life up through it, sending a richer life down 
through it, will rarely be provided for, save by 
the few men wise enough to understand a great 
national system of education, and strong enough 
efficiently to aid it. 

" It is, then, plain, good sense wdiich has led 
mainly to the development of a munificence such 
as no other land has seen ; therefore it is that the 
long list of men who have thus distinguished 



574 "my country, 'tis of thee." 

themselves aud tHeir country is steadily growing 
longer." 

But in opposition to the spirit which founded 
and has supported our many institutions of 
learning there has arisen a pestilent theory, 
born of the sudden increase of wealth and love of 
luxury, that no education is worth anything 
which does not enable a man to make more money 
and make it easier than his neighbor who has 
had no liberal schooling. Because technical 
schools — of which the more we have the better 
off we will be — teach men to use their wdts about 
many practical things, there seems to be prev- 
alent a stupid notion that material things are all 
there are of life, and that sentiments, principles 
and aspirations are not worth cultivating. Such 
stuff might do if we were a nation of shopkeepers, 
but we are not that kind of people. For each 
man who is thinking and caring only for money 
and what it will bring him are half a dozen 
earnest, clear-headed people who know that all 
human needs are not satisfied when the stomach 
is full and the senses satiated. 

In a recent and admirable address to a college 
society Bishop Potter fairly stated and answered 
the current sneer at the higher education, as fol- 
lows : 

" We are met by a spirit which it is time, I 
think, that we recognize, as there is a need that 
it should be challenged. We Americans are, of 



THE HIGHER EDUCATION. 575 

all peoples under the sun, supremely a practical 
people. No meclianism is invented, no book is 
written, no theory is propounded, but that 
straightway there is heard a voice demanding : 
* Well, this is all very interesting, very novel, 
very eloquent ; but what, after all, is the good of 
it? To what contrivance, to what enterprise 
can you hitch this discovery, this vision of yours, 
and make it work ? How will it push, pull, 
pump, lift, drive, bore, so that, employed thus, it 
may be a veritable producer? Yes, we want 
learning for our young men, our young women ; 
but how can it be converted by the shortest road 
and in the most effectual way into a marketable 
product ? ' ' The man of the North,' says De 
Tocqueville, writing of our North, ' has not 
only experience, but knowledge. He, however, 
does not care for science as a pleasure, and only 
embraces it with avidity when it leads to useful 
applications.' And the worst of such an in- 
dictment is the fact that it is still so often true. 

" The conditions of this generation demand 
that we should be reminded that, beyond bodies 
to be clothed, and tastes to be cultivated, and 
wealth to be accumulated, there is in each one 
of us an intellect to be developed and, by means 
of it, truth to be discerned, which, beside all 
other undertakings to which the mind of man 
can bend itself, should forever be foremost and 
supreme. The gratification of our physical 



576 "my country, 'tis of thee." 

wants, and next to that the gratification of our 
personal vanity or ambition, may seem to many 
people at once the chief end of existence and the 
secret of the truest happiness. But there have 
been men who have neither sought nor cared for 
these things, who have found in learning for its 
own sake at once their sweetest rewards and 
their highest dignity. 

" The vocation of the scholar of our time be- 
comes most plain. He is to take his stand and 
to make his protest. With a dignity and a reso- 
lution born of the greatness of his calling and 
his opportunity, he is to spurn that low estimate 
of his work and its result which measures them 
by what they have earned in money or can pro- 
duce in dividends. Here, in his counting-room 
or his warehouse, sits the plutocrat who has 
amassed his millions, and who can forecast the 
fluctuations of the market with the unerring 
accuracy of an aneroid barometer. To such a 
one comes the professor from some modest seat 
of learning among the hills, minded to see his 
old classmate of other days, to grasp his hand 
again, and to learn, if it may be, how he fares. 
And the rich man looks down with a bland con- 
descension upon the school-fellow who chose the 
company of his books rather than the com- 
panionship of the market-place, and as he notes, 
perhaps, his lean and Cassius-like outline, his 
seedy if not shabby garb, and his shy and rustic 



inn HIGHER EDUCATION. 577 

manlier, smooths his own portly and well-clad 
person with complacency, and thanks his stars 
that he early took to trade. Poor fool ! He 
does not perceive that his friend the professor 
has most accurately taken his measure, and that 
the clear and kindly eyes that look at him 
through those steel-bowed spectacles have seen 
with something of sadness, and something more 
of compassion, how the finer aspirations of 
earlier days have all been smothered and 
quenched ! In an age which is impatient of any 
voice that will not cry, ' Great is the god of rail- 
roads and syndicates, and greater yet are the 
apostles of ' puts ' and ' calls,' of * corners ' and 
pools ! ' we want a race of men who by their very 
existence shall be a standing protest against the 
reign of a coarse materialism and a deluge of 
greed and self-seeking. 

" But to have such a race of men we must 
have among us those whose vision has been 
purged and unsealed to see the dignity of the 
scholar's calling. One may not forget that 
among those who will soon go forth from college 
halls to begin their work in life there must needs 
be many to whom the nature of that work, and 
in some sense the aims of it, are foreordained 
by the conditions under which they are com- 
pelled to do it. One may not forget, in other 
words, that, with many of us, the stern question 
of earning our bread is that which most urgently 



578 "my country, 'tis of thee.'^ 

challenges us, and wliicli we cannot hope to 
evade. But there is no one of us who may not 
wisely remember that, in the domain of the in- 
tellect as in the domain of the spiritual and 
moral nature, ' the life is more than meat and 
the body than raiment,' and that the hope of our 
time, or of any time, is not in men who are con- 
cerned in what they can get, but in what they 
can see. Frederick Maurice has well reminded 
us how inadequate is that phrase which describes 
the function of the scholar to be the acquisition 
of knowledge. Here is a man whose days and 
nights are spent in laborious plodding, and 
whose brain, before he is done with life, becomes 
a store-house from which you can draw out a fact 
as you would take down a book from the shelves 
of a library. We must not speak of such a 
scholar disrespectfully; and in a generation 
which is impatient of plodding industry, and 
content, as never before, with smart and super- 
ficial learning, we may well honor those whose 
rare acquisitions are the fruit of painful and 
untiring labor. But, surely, his is a nobler 
understanding of his calling as a scholar who 
has come to see that, in whatsoever department 
of inquiry, it is not so much a question of how 
much learning he is possessed of, as, rather, how 
truly anything that he has learned has pos- 
sessed him. There are men whose acquirements 
in mere bulk and extent are, it may be, neither 



THH HIGHER EDUCATION. 579 

large nor profound. But when they have taken 
their powers of inquiry and investigation and 
gone with them to the shut doors of the king- 
dom of knowledge, they have tarried there in 
stillness and on their knees, waiting and watch- 
ing for the light. And to these has come, in all 
ages, that which is the best reward of the 
scholar — not a fact to be hung iip on a peg and 
duly numbered and catalogued, but the vision 
of a truth to be the inspiration of all their 
lives." 

Among the departments of higher education 
at which the self-styled " practical " man turns 
up his nose are the mental, moral and political 
sciences. They are sneered at as a mass of 
mere theories ; good enough, perhaps, to help 
intellectual natures otherwise unoccupied to pass 
away the time, but of no practical good in the 
world. Yet President Oilman, whose mind runs 
largely upon applied science, says of these 
studies : 

" They have twofold value — their service to the 
individual and their service to the state. It is 
by the study of the history of opinion, by the 
scrutiny of mental phenomena, and by the dis- 
cussion of ethical principles, that religious and 
moral character is to be developed. The hours 
of reflection are redeemed from barrenness and 
made fruitful, like sand-plains irrigated by 
mountain-streams, when they are pervaded by 



580 "my country, 'tis of thee/* 

tlie perennial currents which flow from the lofty- 
heights of philosophy and religion. x'Vbove all 
other educational subjects in importance stands 
philosophy, the exercise of reason upon those 
manifold and perplexing problems of existence 
which are as old as humanity and as new as the 
nineteenth century. For its place in a liberal 
education no substitute need apply. What is 
true of the moral sciences in reference to individ- 
ual character may be said of the historical and 
political sciences in relation to the state. That 
nation is in danger of losing its liberties, and of 
entering upon a period of corruption and decay, 
which does not keep its eye steadily fixed on the 
experience of other nations, and does not appl}'- to- 
its own institutions and laws the lessons of the 
past. The evils we complain of, the burdens we 
' carry, the dangers we fear, are to be met by the 
accumulated experience of other generations and 
of other climes." 

Yet this distinguished teacher would not, like 
some men of equal note but less breadth of 
character, have the college student restrict him- 
self to these departments of study. He shows 
himself abreast of the times when he says : 

" A liberal education requires an acquaintance 
with scientific methods, with the modes of in- 
quiry, of observation, of comparison, of eliminat- 
ing error and of ascertaining truth, which are 
observed by modern investigators. Such an 



THE HIGHER EDUCATION. 581 

acquaintance may be better secured by prolonged 
and thorough attention to one great department 
of science, like chemistry, physics, biology, or 
geology, than by acquiring a smattering of 
twenty branches. If every college student would 
daily for one or two years devote a third of his 
study time to either of the great subjects we have 
named, or to others which might be named, he 
would exercise his faculties in a discipline very 
different from that afforded by his linguistic and 
mathematical work. He would not only find his 
observing powers sharpened ; he would find his 
judgment improved by its exercise on the cer- 
tainties of natural law. He would never after- 
ward be prejudiced against the true workers in 
science, nor afraid of the progress of modern 
learning. Whatever might be his future voca- 
tion, ecclesiastical, educational, or editorial, he 
would speak of science with no covert sneer 
and with no suppressed apprehension. The 
more religious his nature, the more reverent 
would he become. In public affairs which call 
for a knowledge of science, he would know how 
to discriminate between the quack and the 
authority, and he would be quick to perceive 
in how many departments of government the 
liberal use of scientific methods is now impera- 
tively demanded." 

If no other purpose could be attained by rais- 
ing the standard and broadening the scope of 



582 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEK." 

sucli of our colleges as aspire to the rank of 
universities, and of sending to them all of our 
young men who sincerely desire a liberal educa- 
tion, there would be the enormous gain, to each 
student, of association with men of his own kind. 
Such association elsewhere is almost impossible 
in this land of scattered population and magnifi- 
cent distances. Many ill-balanced " cranks " 
might have been spared us could active, restless, 
inquiring minds have been placed amid congenial 
surroundings instead of chafing against barren 
"environments and consuming their minds over 
trivialities. Edward Everett Hale is credited 
with the saying : " The main good of a college is 
not in the things which it teaches ; the good of 
a college is to be had from the ' fellows ' who are 
there and your association with them." President 
Dwight, of Yale, while dissenting from the 
sweeping first clause of Mr. Hale's assertion, 
admits : 

" But ' the fellows ' did me much good in the 
way of my education. I had a most excellent 
and worthy set of friends, especially in the last 
year of my college life. My associations with 
them drew me out of myself, and gave me, in 
the best meaning of the term, the sense and the 
impulse of good-fellowship. As bearing upon 
my preparation for my life's work, this association 
did much to give me that common sense, and 
sympath}^, and warm-heartedness, and love of 



THE HIGHER EDUCATION. 58o 

young men, and compreliension of their nature 
and their feelings-, the value of which is so great 
to a college teacher. The college friendships, in 
their best development, came to me at the most 
fortunate period — in the later years of the course. 
They came at a time when they could operate 
most healthfully and happily upon all that I had 
gained from my studies and my teachers, and 
rounded out for me, if I may so express it, the 
education which belonged to the university." 

One requisite to the greater success of our 
higher colleges is a better class of students. 
When fees for matriculation and tuition formed 
an important part of the income from which a 
school had to maintain itself, an applicant's de- 
fects of preparation or personal character were 
winked at; but this no longer is necessary at 
Yale, Harvard or any of the half dozen younger 
universities which have been richly endowed. 
No one should be received as a student who does 
not " mean business " and who is not quickly 
responsive to the influences about him. Says 
Prof. Shaler, of Harvard: 

"It is very clear that the essential aim of our 
higher educational establishments is to take 
youths who have received a considerable training 
in preparatory schools, who have attained the 
age of about eighteen years, and have begun to 
acquire the motives of men, and fit them for the 
higher walks of active life. To the youth must 



584 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

be given a share of learning whicli may serv^e to 
enlarge to the utmost his natural powers. He 
must be informed and disciplined in the art and 
habit of acquiring information. He must also 
be disciplined in the ways of men, in the main- 
tenance of his moral status by the exercise of 
his will, in self-confidence and in the faithful per- 
formance of duty for duty's sake. Every influ- 
ence which tends to aid him in putting away the 
irresponsible nature of the child should be 
brought to bear; every condition which will lead 
him to send forth his expectations and ambitions 
from his place in the school to his place among 
men should surround him. 

" Once bring a young man clearly to feel that 
his career in life is fairly begun when he resorts 
to college or the professional school ; let him but 
conceive that his place in life is to be determined 
by his conduct in preparation for it, and we bring 
to bear a set of motives which are morally as 
high as the ordinary motives of discipline are low 
in the moral scale. Just so far as the work of a 
student abounds in suggestions of his w^ork in 
the world, so far as his teachers by their conduct, 
as well as by their words, serve to arouse his 
manly, dutiful sense, the education effects its 
true end. Every youth who is fitted to be a 
student in our higher colleges or universities 
will quickly respond to the stimulus he feels in 
passing from the disciplinary conditions of child- 



THE HIGHER EDUCATION. 585 

hood to those which are fit for men. If he be in 
spirit capable of scholarly manliness, we may be 
sure that his imagination has forerun the con- 
ditions he has met in his lower schooling. He 
has longed for something like the independence 
and responsibility of manhood ; for an advance to 
the place of trust to which he is bidden." 

Our higher colleges should not become retreats 
for that large, lazy, irresponsible class of young 
men and women who mistake fondness for read- 
ing for a desire to study. There is no more 
deceptive creature alive than the juvenile book- 
worm. He is like the English king who became 
noted as " the most learned fool in Christendom." 
Neither should feebleness of body be regarded 
as an indication of vigorous intellect ; this mis- 
take has filled colleges as disastrously as pulpits. 
The seriousness of ill-health is not an intel- 
lectual purpose ; it is a mental disease, and 
should be treated by the gymnasium instructor — 
not the college professor. President White, in 
outlining the university of the future, said : 

"A long observation of young men and young 
women has taught me that there is infinitely 
greater danger to their health, moral, intellectual 
and physical, from lounging, loafing, dawdling 
and droning over books, than from the most 
vigorous efforts they can be induced to make; 
and I believe that most thoughtful teachers will 
agree with me on this point. In order to meet 



586 "my country, 'tis of thee." 

any danger of tiie sort suggested, it will be ob- 
served tbat I Have insisted on a proper examina- 
tion as to physical condition at the same time with 
the regular examinations for scholarships and 
fellowships, and also upon frequent reports from 
the successful candidates as to health as well as 
progress. The expectation of such examinations 
and reports would do much to guard and improve 
the health of ambitious young scholars in every 
part of the country." 

Our higher colleges contain some admirable 
instructors, but the average quality is not yet 
what it should be. President Oilman says : 

" For the ordinary instruction of under-gradu- 
ate students men of broad, generous, varied 
culture are needed ; men who know the value of 
letters and of nature in a plan of study ; men 
who understand their own views because they 
are watching the necessities and the transactions 
of to-day with the light of historical experience ; 
men who believe that character, intellectual and 
moral, is more important than knowledge, and 
who are determined that all the influences of 
college life shall be wholesome. Such teachers 
as these have hitherto constituted the faculties 
of American colleges ; their names may not have 
been made renowned by any new discoveries or 
by the publication of any great treatises, but 
they have impressed themselves on generations 
of pupils who have in their turn helped to form 



THE HIGHER EDUCATION. 587 

the "best institutions which maintain the nation. 
It will be a great misfortune to American educa- 
tion, if, in choosing specialists for collegiate pro- 
fessorships (as must be done in future) , the 
authorities fail to make sure that these specialists 
are men of general cultivation, of sound morals 
and of hearty sympathy with the youth they are 
to teach." 

But what are college trustees to do ? Most of 
the great gifts to colleges are for special pur- 
poses — the erection of buildings, the purchase 
of instruments, the founding of a library, the 
purchase of a telescope, but seldom for the pur- 
pose of securing a valuable addition to the faculty 
by an endowment which would yield a sum that 
would justify a man of high attainments in 
abandoning a lucrative profession and devoting 
himself to education. Says President Oilman : 

"Is it not time for all who are interested in 
college foundations to call for large donations 
for the increase of ' the wages fund ? ' Ought 
not the college authorities to keep in the back- 
ground their desire for better buildings, and 
insist that adequate means must first be provided 
for the maintenance of instruction ? It will be 
suicidal if a prosperous country like this suffers 
its institutions of learning to be manned by men 
of second-rate abilities because they are cheaper, 
and because the men of first-rate powers are 
turned away from the work of higher education 



588 "my country, 'tis of thee." 

to the professions of law and medicine, to the 
ministry and to business pursuits, as giving more 
hope, more comfort and more freedom, with 
equally good opportunities of usefulness and 
with prospects of higher honor. It will be a 
shame if the hoary head in a college, instead of 
being a crown of glory, is a sign of poverty and 
neglect. A college professorship should be liber- 
ally paid, and with an augmenting salary, so 
that, in this respect, it may be at least as attrac- 
tive as other careers which are open to intel- 
lectual men. If the very best men are not 
secured for the work of instruction, and if they 
are not made so easy in their pecuniary circum- 
stances as to be free from care on that account, 
farewell to intellectual advancement, farewell to 
literary progress, farewell to scientific discovery, 
farewell to sound statesmanship, farewell to 
enlightened Christianity ; the reign of bigotry 
and dulness is at hand." 

Our colleges need more scholarships and more 
fellowships. It ought to be possible for any one 
desirous and deserving of a good education to 
obtain it, whether he be son of a prince or son 
of a pauper. It ought also to be possible for a 
brilliant and studious graduate to be specially 
rewarded and encouraged by being supported by 
his Alma Mater so long as he continues his 
studies to some purpose and for the benefit of the 
college. The '' fellow " of an English university 



the: higher education. 589 

may be a mere loafer ; his title and its accom- 
panying allowance of money call for no return ; 
they are merely rewards for what has already 
been done. President White says : 

" I would allow the persons taking fellowships 
to use them in securing advanced inatruction at 
whatever institution they may select at home or 
abroad. Probably the great majority would 
choose the best institutions at home, but many 
would go abroad and seek out the most eminent 
professors and investigators. Thus, eager, 
energetic, ambitious young American scholars 
would bring back to us the best thoughts, words 
and work of the foremost authorities in every 
department throughout the world ; skill in the 
best methods, knowledge of the best books, 
familiarity with the best illustrative material. 
From the scholars thus trained our universities, 
colleges and academies would receive better 
teachers ; our magazines and newspapers writers 
better fitted to discuss living political, financial 
and social questions ; the various professions 
men better prepared to develop them in obedience 
to the best modern thought, and the great pur- 
suits which lie at the foundation of material 
prosperity — agriculture, manufactures and the 
like — men better able to solve the practical 
problems of the world. Every field of moral, 
intellectual and physical activity would thus be 
enriched. All would be anxious to train students 



5*90 "my country, 'tivS of thee.'* 

fitted to compete successfully for these fellow- 
ships, and the stronger institutions would be 
especially anxious to develop post-graduate 
courses fitted to attract these. I can think of no 
better antiseptic for the dry-rot which afflicts so 
many institutions of learning. The custom of 
shelving clergymen unacceptable to parishes in 
college professorships would probably by this 
means receive a killing blow." 

Bishop Potter writes as earnestly on this sub- 
ject, though from a different point of view: 

" We want place for men who, whether as 
fellows or lecturers, shall, in connection with our 
universities, be free to pursue original investiga- 
tion and to give themselves to profound study, 
untrammelled by the petty cares, the irksome 
round, the small anxieties, which are sooner or 
later the death of aspiration, and fatal obstacles 
to inspiration. It is with processes of thought 
as it is with processes of nature — crystallization 
demands stillness, equanimity, repose. And so 
the great truths which are to be the seed of forces 
that shall new create our civilization must have 
a chance first of all to reveal themselves. Some 
mount of vision there must be for the scholar ; 
and those whose are the material treasures out of 
which came those wonderful endowments and 
foundations which have lent to England's uni- 
versities some elements of their chiefest glory 
must see that they have this mount of vision." 



THE HIGHER EDUCATION. 591 

Higher education does not require that college 
discipline, direction and supervision should be 
abated ; on the contrary, it demands more active 
exercise of all these functions. Some quite good 
and earnest men go to college only to read ; their 
proper place is a large library in a city. Others, 
taking advantage of " elective " studies, want 
to plunge into a groove and remain there. Elec- 
tive studies have their advantages, but young 
men are seldom fit to select for themselves. 
Says President Bartlett, of Dartmouth : 

" From the fact that he has not been over the 
field, the youth is incompetent to judge what is 
the best drill and culture for him. And while 
diversity of ultimate aim may modify the latter 
part of the basal education, specialism comes 
soon enough when the special training begins. 
And those institutions seem to me wisest which 
reserve their electives till the last half of the 
college course, then introduce them sparingly, 
and not miscellaneously, but by coherent courses. 
A general and predominant introduction of elec- 
tives is fruitful of evils. It perplexes the faith- 
ful student in his inexperience. It tempts and 
helps the average student to turn away from the 
studies which by reason of his deficiencies he 
most needs. It gives opportunity to the lazy 
student to indulge his indolence in the selection 
of ' soft ' electives." 

Fortunately discipline is not so hard to main- 



592 ''my country, 'tis of thee.'* 

tain in American colleges as in European uni- 
versities. There are some " hard boys " at 
Harvard, and the Yale Cubs often make night 
hideous at New Haven, nevertheless the Ameri- 
can student is generally more respectable and 
law-abiding than his foreign brother. Says Presi- 
dent Eliot, of Harvard : 

" The habitual abstinence from alcohol as a 
daily beverage, which the great majority of 
American students observe, explains in some 
degree the absence in American institutions of 
all measures to prevent students from passing 
the night away from their college rooms or lodg- 
ings. The college halls at Harvard, Yale, and 
Princeton stand open all night ; while at Oxford 
and Cambridge locked doors and gates, and 
barred and shuttered windows, enforce the 
student's presence in his room after lo p.m., but 
are most ineffectual to restrain him from any vice 
to which he may be seriously inclined. There 
is more drunkenness and licentiousness at Oxford 
and Cambridge than among an equal number of 
American students ; but this fact is due rather to 
national temperament, and to the characteristics 
of the social class to which English students 
generally belong, than to an3^thing in university 
organization or discipline. Among manly virtues, 
purity and temperance have a lower place in 
English estimation than in American." 

So sensible are the mass of American students 



the; higpier education. 593 

that wlien the question of undergraduate partici- 
pation in college management was raised at 
Dartmouth the college societies reported ad- 
versely on the plan, and the college paper, edited 
by students, manfully asserted, after a plea for 
strong government, " What our colleges really 
need is more of West Point." 

Between proper government and amateur 
police work, however, there is a wide difference. 
Ex-President McCosh, of Princeton, who was a 
studious, quiet man, whom no one could have 
suspected of sympathy with wild hilarity, said : 

" There may be colleges, but they are few, 
which are over-governed by masters who look as 
wise as Solomon, but whose judgments are not 
just so wise as his were. In some places there 
may be a harsh repression of natural impulses, 
and an intermeddling with joyousness and 
playfulness. I have known ministerial pro- 
fessors denounce infidelity till they made their 
best students infidel. The most effective means 
of makiug young men skeptics is for dull men 
to attack Darwin and Spencer, Huxley and 
Tyndall, without knowing the branches which 
these men have been turning to their own uses. 
There are grave professors who cannot draw the 
distinction between the immorality of drinking 
and snowballing. It is true that we have two 
eyes given us that we may see, but we have also 
two eyelids to cover them up ; and those who 



594 ** MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

have oversight of young men slionld know 
when to open and when to close these organs of 
observation. I have seen a band of students 
dragging a horse, which had entered the campus, 
without matriculating, into a ^oody-studenVs 
room, and a professor with the scene before him 
determinedly turning his head now to the one 
side and now to the other that he might not 
possibly see it. I have witnessed a student 
coming out of a recitation-room, leaping into a 
wagon, whose driver had villanously disap- 
peared, and careering along the road, while the 
president turned back from his walk that his 
eyes might not alight on so profane a scene." 

But between mere fun and out-and-out 
brutalit}^ Dr. McCosh drew the line sharply 
when he said : 

"It is certain that there are old college 
customs still lingering in our country which 
people generally are now anxious to be rid of. 
Some of them are offsets of the abominable 
practices of old English schools, and have come 
down from colonial days, through successive 
generations. Thus American hazing is a modi- 
fication of Knglish fagging. It seems that there 
are still some who defend or palliate the crime — 
for such it is. They say that it stirs up courage 
and promotes manliness. But I should like to 
know what courage there is in a crowd, in masks 
at the dead of night, attacking a single youth 



THr: HIGHER EDUCATION. 595 

who is gagged and is defenceless ! It is not a 
fair and open figHt in whicH both parties expose 
themselves to danger. The deed, so far from 
being courageous, is about the lowest form of 
cowardice. The preparations made and the 
deeds done are in all cases mean and dastardly, 
and in some horrid. I have seen the apparatus. 
There are masks for concealment, and gags to 
stop the mouth and ears ; there is a razor and 
there are scissors, there are ropes to bind, and in 
some cases whips or boards to inflict blows ; 
there are commonly filthy applications ready, 
and in all cases unmanly insults more difficult 
to be borne by a youth of spirit than any beat- 
ing. The practice, so far from being humaniz- 
ing, is simply brutalizing in its influence on all 
engaged in it. It does not form the brave man, 
but the bully. The youth exposed to the in- 
dignity this year is prepared to revenge it on 
another next year. A gentleman who knows 
American colleges well tells me that in those in 
which hazing is common in the younger classed 
the very look of the students is rowdyish. It is 
astonishing that the American people, firm 
enough when they are roused, should have 
allowed this barbarity to linger in our colleges, 
great and small, down to the last quarter of the 
nineteenth century of the religion of purity and 
love." 

Our universities and more progressive col- 



596 "my country, 'tis of thee." 

leges are slowly but surely reshaping tliem- 
selves on tiie lines indicated in the foregoing 
pages, and the time is not far distant when no 
graduate can be excused for being merely book- 
stuffed instead of educated. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

OUR GREAT CONCERN. 

Ours is tlie greatest land in tHe world, and we^ 
the people of these United States, ought to be 
the greatest people. 

At the present time it does not require any 
great amount of conceit to make us believe that 
we are superior to our neighbors, but it will not 
do to forget that the faculty of being up and 
growing is not one of which we have a mo- 
nopoly. 

One of the founders of the Republic said: 
" Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." He 
might have added that it is the price of pretty 
mufch everything else worth having and keeping. 

We Americans have led the world in a great 
many respects in most unexpected ways and at 
unexpected times, but seldom does a year pass in 
which we do not discover that we have no mo- 
nopoly of the art of taking the lead. In one way 
or other, some nations of the earth are continually 
showing themselves superior to us in some re- 
spects. We have needed a great many warnings 
of this kind, and we will need a great many more 

597 



598 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

unless we act more promptly upon those whicli 
have already been granted us. 

We have had enough success in other days to 
make us very conceited, so it is natural that oc- 
casionally we fall behind our competitors through 
the blindness of our fancied security. There 
was a time when American sails whitened every 
ocean, and more American ships could be seen in 
foreign ports than those of two or three other 
nations combined. The man who would now go 
out in a foreign port to look for an American 
flag, determining not to break his fast till he 
found one, would stand a fair chance of starving 
to death. Whether the disappearance of our 
flag from commerce is due only to the ravages 
of the Alabama and her sister privateers, or to 
the navigation laws now in force, is not to the 
point of the present situation, which is, that un- 
expectedly to ourselves and all the rest of the 
world we have taken the lowest position among 
the nations as carriers of what we have to buy 
and sell, and that we do not show any indications 
whatever of ever resuming our old position. 

Another instance : Within the memory of half 
the people now alive, the world heard that Cot- 
ton was king, and, as cotton was obtainable only 
from America, Americans proudly assumed to be 
the commercial rulers of the world. Owing to a 
little family trouble on this side of the water, the 
other nations began to look about elsewhere for 



OUR GREAT CONCERN. 599 

their cotton. They found some in unexpected 
places, and have been finding it there ever since. 
We still produce more cotton than any other 
country, but we are not kings of the cotton mar- 
ket any longer. 

Then came the time when Corn was king. It 
is true we did not ship much of it in the grain, 
but between putting it into pork and putting it 
into whiskey, our corn became the first cause of 
the loading many thousands of ships to different 
foreign countries. Foreigners have eyes in their 
heads and they began to look about and see 
whether they could not produce pork and whis- 
key as cheaply as those people across the water, 
who had to send their products three thousand 
miles or more to find a market. They succeeded. 
At the present day, although our distilleries and 
pig-styes are in active operation, a great deal of 
distilled liquors and also a great deal of the meat 
of the hog comes this way across the ocean. The 
market still is good abroad for American hams, 
sides, shoulders, bacon and lard, but the bottom 
has dropped out of the whiskey market, and 
seems to show no signs of a desire to return. 

For a number of years, and until very recently, 
our wheat had made us commercially, in one sense 
at least, the superior of all the other nations of 
the world. The finer breadstuffs were not to be 
had in Europe except from American sources. 
Year by year the price of wheat increased until 



600 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

tlie American farmer became so enviable an indi- 
vidual that a great many merchants went out of 
business, bought farms, and attempted to com- 
pete with him. As is usually the case when any 
business is so flourishing that every one wishes 
to go into it, endeavors were being made by hun- 
dreds of sharp-eyed observers to see whether 
wheat might not be more profitably produced in 
other portions of the world, and the success 
which attended these observations has been any- 
thing but gratifying to the American farmer. 
Russia and Hungary are producing more wheat 
than ever before. Wheat is pouring into Europe 
from Asia, and even from Africa, and the Ameri- 
can farmer now is not quite so sure as to what 
will be the result of a good crop of wheat — not 
sure whether it will yield a profit or fail to pay 
expenses. Even the reductions in freight rates, 
alike from the agricultural districts tp the sea- 
shore and from America to Europe, do not com- 
pensate him for the great reduction in the price 
of what once he fondly believed was an enduring 
source of profit. The time when it was safe to 
put an entire farm into wheat has passed. Far- 
mers are studying mixed crops now with all the 
intelligence that is in them, for a man's first 
duty is to earn food for his family. 

Again, when it was discovered that, helped by 
some refrigerating process, we could send fresh 
meat to Europe, the whole country arose, cheered 



OUR GREAT CONCERN. 601 

and patted itself upon the back. Now, surely 
the whole world would be at our feet, for were we 
not feeding Englishmen, Frenchmen and Ger- 
mans cheaper than any of their home producers 
could do it ? Our self-satisfaction increased when 
it was discovered that live cattle also could be 
sent over to Europe in immense quantities and 
pay a handsome profit in spite of occasional 
losses due to storms and injudicious loading of 
the vessels which carried the animals. About 
this time ranches began to cover all ground in 
the far West that was fit at all for grazing, and 
the estates, nominally the property of those who 
managed them, came to be of baronial extent. 
But what America could do, Australia began to 
think she also could do, and even South Africa 
was not averse to experimenting in the same di- 
rection. We still send a great deal of meat to 
Europe, but ranch property is not as much in 
demand as once it was. There are ranches now 
to be had for the taking, but the takers are few. 

Just before the ranch fever began, we struck 
oil — struck it in such immense quantities, and 
also found men so competent to make it fit for 
general use, that petroleum in some of its forms 
promised to be the leading export article of the 
United States. There was not a civilized quarter 
of the world in which one couldn't find the 
American kerosene oil can. Our oil still con- 
tinues to go abroad in immense quantities, but 



602 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

the fortunes which have been made upon it 
have stimulated prospectors all over the world, 
and, as it is known that oil is not restricted to 
any single hemisphere, or even grand division 
of the world, the prospects begin to look rather 
dismal for America retaining supremacy in this 
particular article of commerce. The Asiatic oil 
wells are far more valuable than ours and are 
worked at less expense, and the supply can be 
distributed in Europe quite as easily and cheaply 
as that from the American wells and refineries. 
Evidently we can't afford to depend upon oil 
alone. Large fortunes have been made upon it, 
but there is an old song which says : " The mill 
can never grind with the water that is passed." 
We need something new to keep us at the fore. 
What it is to be has not yet been discovered. 

Some few unfulfilled expectations of this kind, 
some great commercial disappointments, are 
probably necessary to divest us of part of the 
overweening self-confidence which is peculiar to 
the inhabitants of all new countries. Simple 
and unquestioning belief in manifest destiny and 
all that sort of talk has quite a stimulating ef- 
fect at times, but it also is likely to lull people 
into a false sense of security. It already has 
done so to a large extent in the United States. 
We have been so well satisfied that we were su- 
perior in intelligence and resources to any other 
land on the face of the earth that we have been 



OUR GREx\T CONCERN. 603 

inattentive to some of our greater interests. The 
shipping of raw materials of any kind is a 
reputable division of industry, but it is not the 
highest result at which a nation should aim, nor 
should any amount of success at it blind the 
people to their greater duties, responsibilities and 
opportunities. 

On the other hand, no other nation of the 
world has so much as we to be thankful for and 
to encourage them. We have no bad neighbors 
who are strong enough for us to be afraid of, and 
all the greater powers of the world are far enough 
away to take very little interest in us, unless we 
annoy them in some way. We do not have to 
squander the energies and sometimes the life- 
blood of our race by putting all our young men 
into armies and navies and teaching them dis- 
trust, suspicion, cruelty and the spirit of rapine. 
Our taxes are heavy, but, on the other hand, our 
national debt, once so enormous, is being re- 
duced with such rapidity that soon we will show 
the world the astonishing spectacle of a great 
nation without a debt. There is nowhere else in 
the world where a person with money to invest 
and desiring it to remain absolutely secure, no 
matter at how small a rate of interest, cannot 
quickly obtain the securities of his own govern- 
ment for his gold or notes, but here there is very 
little encouragement any longer to buy the na- 
tional bonds, for they are being redeemed at a 



604 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OI? THEE." 

rate whicli makes it almost impossible for any 
one to retain them with certainty for a long 
time as a permanent investment. Holders of the 
debts of other countries expect never to have 
their principal redeemed ; they are satisfied to 
get interest perpetually, as undoubtedly they will 
unless the debts are repudiated. There is very 
little possibility of any foreign country of the 
first class ever discharging all of its financial ob- 
ligations so far as principal is concerned, unless 
it provokes a fight with the United States and 
holds our cities for ransom. If we must, and 
certain economists say we must, continue to ex- 
tract a large amount of money from the pockets 
of the people, we will at least have the satisfac- 
tion of seeing it spent for something besides dead 
horses. 

We also are reducing the proportion of our 
uneducated and ignorant classes at a rapid and 
gratifying rate. Other countries are working in 
this direction with more skill, thoughtfulness 
and accurate appliances, but, on the other hand, 
they have to contend against the apathy of a large 
portion of the population, an article which, hap- 
pily, in this country is of very small proportions. 
Besides the vast mass of uneducated beings who 
have come to us as immigrants, we have also the 
entire colored population of the South, but 
schools are built so rapidly and all classes of our 
people, even the most ignorant of blacks, are so 



OUR GREAT CONCERN. 605 

ambitious to be as good as any otlier class, that 
it is not at all difficult to get children to school 
and to persuade parents to take a hearty interest 
in education. Whatever may be our faults in 
the future, ignorance promises not to be one of 
them. 

There is another side to this subject, and one 
which cannot too quickly begin to turn the 
thoughtful portion of the public. " A little 
learning is a dangerous thing," is a sentiment 
which has frequently been quoted. The inherent 
right of every citizen to reach the highest office 
of the government has so stimulated ambition 
that almost any one is willing to try for the posi- 
tion whether fit or not, and the same statement 
holds good regarding every other place of trust 
or profit in public or private life. Half-educated 
men, men of almost no education, have brought 
this country to great peril again and again. 
Their numbers are constantly increasing. We 
must be on guard against them. Misdirected 
activity is worse than no activity at all, but there 
is something worse than that, and it is the cease- 
less ambition of men whose conscience does not 
keep pace with their intelligence. The school 
supplies intelligence, but conscience is something 
which cannot be made to order, and no institu- 
tion under charge and supervision of a govern- 
ment can be expected to supply it. The nations 
of the Old World have attempted to do it for 



606 " MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE." 

centuries througli the medium of the church, but 
good and noble and self-sacrificing though the 
church has been at many times and in many 
lands, its ministrations cannot be forced upon 
those who are unwilling to receive them. 

The only available substitute is a high stand- 
ard of public morality. This is voiced by the 
press, by the pulpit and in private life ; but, un- 
fortunately, when it reaches the domain of poli- 
tics, it immediately becomes confused and en- 
feebled. A higher standard must be set by par- 
ties and maintained by the leaders and voters and 
adherents of those parties. The hypocrisy of all 
political utterances has been proved over and over 
again during the past few years in the United 
States. No man of honesty and high purpose 
can help blushing for shame when he reviews 
the broken promises of his own political organi- 
zation, no matter what it may be. " Promises, 
like pie-crusts, are made to be broken," says the 
practical politician, and while for three years and 
six months of every four the respectable citizen 
protests against such shameful disregard of pub- 
lic and private morals, in the remaining six 
months he is likely to give his tacit assent and 
his active vote to the party with which he has 
always acted in politics, regardless of who may 
be its leaders and what may be its actual inten- 
tions. Until both parties line down this disgrace 
and dishonor there will be a weak joint in oui 



OUR GREAT CONCERN. ' 607 

armor and our enemies will sooner or later dis- 
cover a way of piercing it. " Righteousness ex- 
alteth a nation," says an authority which most 
Americans regard with great respect — except 
during a Presidential campaign. 

The stability and peace of our nation should be 
the great concern of our people, and as there is 
not a private virtue which may not be influential 
in this direction, each individual has it in his power 
to further the great purpose of the community. 
All the other nations envy us — envy us our form 
of government, our freedom from conscription, 
large armies, privileged classes, vested rights, 
ugly neighbors, churchly impositions and hope- 
less debts. But we can maintain all these 
features of superiority only by maintaining an 
honest and intelligent government. We cannot 
do it by being blind, unreasoning partizans of 
any political organization. To be a "strong 
Democrat" or "strong Republican" is often to be 
contemptibly weak as an American. Loyalty to 
party often means disloyalty to the nation. Party 
platforms are seldom framed according to the will 
of the majority ; they are framed by the leaders, 
and often for the leaders' own personal purposes. 
In all other lands where constitutional govern- 
ment prevails the intelligent classes sway from 
one party to the other, according to their opinion 
of measures proposed. Loyalty is accorded to 
the nation first, the party afterwards. The party 



608 "'my country, 'tis of thee." 

is regarded as a means, not an end ; it must be 
so regarded Here, before we can rise to the level 
of our opportunities, and the number and great- 
ness of these opportunities make tbis duty more 
imperative bere, even for selfish reasons, than 
anywhere else. It is peculiarly stupid and dis- 
graceful that any intelligent American should 
be able to say, with Sir Joseph Porter, in "Pina- 
fore : " 

" I always voted at my party's call, 
And I never thought of thinking for myself at all." 

No party should be a voter's ruler ; it is his 
servant, and if it is lazy, dishonest or does not 
obey him, it should be disciplined or changed. 

We must do much else, by way of vigilance. 
We must insist that American land be held only 
by Americans. A great many rich men on the 
other side of the Atlantic are willing and anx- 
ious to reproduce here a state of affairs that 
has made endless trouble in Europe. Said Presi- 
dent Harrison, while yet in the Senate : " Vast 
tracts of our domain, not simply the public 
domain on the frontier, but in some of our newer 
States, are passing into the hands of wealthy 
foreigners. It seems that the land reforms in 
Ireland, and the movement in England in favor 
of the reduction of large estates and the distribu- 
tion of the lands among persons who will culti- 
vate them for their own use, are disturbing the 



OnR CrRKAT COXCKRN. 



009 



investments of some Englishmen, and that some 
of them are looking to this country for the 
acquisition of vast tracts of land which may be 
held by them and let out to tenants, out of the 
rents of which they may live abroad. This 
evil requires early attention, and that Congress 
should, by law, restrain the acquisition of such 
tracts of land by aliens. Our policy should be 
small farms, worked by the men who own them." 
So says every thoughtful American. 

We must give closer attention to the army of 
the unemployed if we wish to avoid the bad in- 
fluence which discontent, of any class, has upon 
the prosperity of the community. The neglect 
of workers who have no work to do is a blot 
upon the fair fame of our people. Financially, 
we do not seem to be affected, one way or other, 
when a lot of men are thrown out of work. Says 
Ur. T. V. Powderly, long the most eloquent 
spokesman of the working class : ''It matters not 
that the carpet-mills suspend three hundred 
hands, the price of carpeting remains unchanged. 
The gingham-mills and the cotton and woollen- 
mills may reduce the wages of employes five and 
ten per cent., but the price of gingham and calico 
continues as before." But the men who suffer— 
they and their families — by partial or total loss 
of income, feel keenly the apathy of the general 
body of consumers, and their indignation and 
suspicion will be sure to uiake themselves known 



010 " MV COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEK.'' 

unpleasantl}' when least expected. We are all 
working men ; we owe practical sympathy to the 
least of our brethren. 

. We mnst make more of the individual, and 
unload fewer of our responsibilities upon the 
government, whether local. State or national. 
As editor Grad^^, of Georgia, said recently to th.e 
graduating class of the University of Virginia : 
" The man who kindles the fire on the hearth- 
stone of an honest and righteous home burns the 
best incense to liberty. He does not love man- 
kind less who loves his neighbor most. Exalt 
the citizen. As the State is the unit of govern- 
ment, he is tlie unit of the State. Teach him 
that his home is his castle, and his sovereignty 
rests beneath his hat. Make him self-respecting, 
self-reliant and responsible. Let him lean on the 
State for nothing that nis own arm can do, and 
on the government fornotliing that his State can 
do. Let him cultivate independence to tlie point 
of sacrifice, and learn that humble things with 
unbartered liberty are better than splendors 
bought with it;; price. Let him neither sur- 
render his individuality to government nor merge 
it with the mob. Let him stand upright and 
fearless — a freeman bc/n of freemen — sturdy in 
his own strength — dowering his family in the 
sweat of his brow — loving to his State — lo3^al to 
his Republic — earnest in his allegiance wherever 
it rests, but building his altar in the midst of 



oi'R (;Ri:A'r coxci-.kx, 



611 



his household gods and sliriniiig in his own 
heart the utteniiost temple of its libert3^" 

On all this, and the general subject of this 
book, the editor begs to quote, in conclusion, from 
a well-known and highly respected authority. 

" Men and brethren, think on these things." 



C 310 



88 



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^ AUG 88 

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sS^ INDIANA 46962 







